how we were raised
by Chaz01
Summary: I suck at intros: Shakespear once wrote that “ ( life) is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and furry, signifying nothing” That quote sums it up well, just give it a try
1. Default Chapter

Yo, I will admit it now, I can't spell, sorry..... I have been meaning to post this but have been lazy.... If you get through the first few ch, I think you'll like it, please give it a chance.... rated R for using the f word, a lot  
  
The time this takes place in is about a week, maby one and one half... I would ask the reader to bear in mind that Romeo and Juliet feel in love in about this time, so don't be mad about how fast things happen, please....  
  
don't own, not mine....  
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His name was Mike, Mike Vic and his adventure all began so long ago. He was born basically alone, his entire family was killed by the dieses that brought the world to ruin. He wondered after that, searching for a cure to the nightmares that would not let him sleep. He kept having to watch them die, inflating like a balloon and then going pop. He was young and thought it was because of something he did. It wasn't, but he could never leave those early feelings of childhood behind. He left the U.S. at 8 with his inheritance. Everywhere he seemed to go in the states reminded him of his family.  
  
His wondering had brought him to a small Taoist monastery in Korea. There he learned a form of Ti Chi and Acedo, as well as an art so old that it's name had long been lost to time, only it's power remained. He was there as a seeker of truth, he wanted to redeem himself. HE still felt the guilt of his youth. The marshal art was just something that was part of day to day life.  
  
After that he went back to the states and blew every test out of the water. He had a photographic memory and rarely slept, nightmares. He graduate first in his class and, at 15, was the youngest Dr. to date. It was because of his work. He had no life, no friends, for he had learned that when you rely on someone, you were hurt. He was nice and blushed profusely when genus was used. He would say it was because he worked 23 out of 24 hours a day.  
  
Then the stuff(edit) hit the fan What was left of Gov. collapse and the corperation,DOATEC. The corporation came to him, said that they wanted to help stop the sickness, needed his expertise in genetics. He agreed, hoping to save others from his fate. He worked harder then anyone there and soon was putting out new theories on everything. He had a unique way of thinking and thought ten moves ahead of everyone else. But, he had no common sense, and so was easily tricked.  
  
Two days ago he had learned it all, that he had been responsible for epsilon, omega, and several other experiments. What was worse he learned of a new project, delta. The corporation was worried, however, those people from the DOA tournaments, could ruin everything. So they set a trap, lured them all to the island lab and were going to kill them. He had been given samples from ' volunteers', of their blood. He was told to try and put it together, then screen out the negatives and enhance the positives.  
  
This is were our story starts. He walked down the hall, eyes downcast. Mike knows he will probably be killed, but he had to make amends. How much death had he caused? How much pain? He was an eccentric man, and his dress showed it. He wore PJ pants, a have a nice day shirt, and huge coke bottled framed glasses. His glasses conflicted with the rest of him though, he was 6'2 and fairly well built. He had long enough brown hair to have perpetual bed head and deep brown eyes. He had his peace coffee cup and the disk with the virus he had just uploaded. His plain was simple, walk in, hold the creature off during the DOA people escapes, and then die. The virus would attack the second he entered the stadium and it detected his DNA. It would open all doors and through the security system off. He had tried to fix things, and now it didn't matter anymore.  
  
He had given his cat away, and was ready to die, to make amends.  
  
He walked thought the huge gate into the stadium. IT was underground and you could see the garnet. It was harshly lite by flourescent lights and was about the size of a normal fighting stadium. It was in the shape of a hexagon. ON the far side of the room was bulletproof glass, where his former peers sat and watched. In the middle was a hole in the ground, where whatever they were going to use would be raised.  
  
When he walked in a red hair girl in a blue gee was saying something and Dr. Decalburg, damn him, was laughing. When he walked in the noise stopped. It was odveous to him that these DOA people had never seen such a mismatched outfit. As fore his peers, they didn't even think he knew about this place. The girl was beautiful, and he would have stopped dead if he didn't have so much self control.  
  
" Dr Vic? What are you doing..."  
  
" Shut up!!" HE yelled. He was rarely anger and usually very articulate. But right now, he was blinded by his rage. " You took everything I worked for, my lives cause, and turned it into a weapon! How many have suffered due to my intelligence?! How many more?!"  
  
" Ha Ha Ha, so the 'genus' finally has figured it out. You were so easy to use, it was almost laughable. And now, sweet Dr. you die with the rest. your creation..."  
  
" No, your wrong, you can't win. Even if I die someone will take my place, you will be stopped! I will not allow my research to be used for your corrupt purposes. You will not win!!!!!"  
  
" Kill him"  
  
At that, the high pitched wine of hydraulics could be heard and a creature was rased up into the stadium. It was a monstrosity. 8 ft. tall and pale as death. It was huge and looked terribly strong and fast. At his appearance the walls of the stadium began to glow with electricity. IT was a forsaking place, a manmade hell. IT made him think of Dotaies inferno.  
  
Then he attacked. In a mindless rage he ran at an unbelievable speed to Mike. And Mike just stood there, arms crossed and eyes closed, listening to the beast footprints. Then he simply stepped to the side and the monster his the ground, hard.  
  
" How did you..." It came from an old man, and was probably more to himself then to anyone else.  
  
" I knew what he would do. I thought ahead of him. Then I used his own energy agents him. Any attacker is naturally off balance and I..."  
  
He side-stepped again and the monster his the ground again.  
  
" simply redirected his energy back to him."  
  
This was repeated several time and then the man at the controls yelled .Next he heard the auto guns flare and the last thing he remembered was hitting the ground hard, then he blanked out...  
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	2. 2

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Ayane's Choice  
They say that all people have demons that chase them. The monster in the window or the buggy man under the bed. These never completely disappear, they just become a constant background fear. A fear that causes men to run. They run twords power, wealth, drugs, fighting, anything to give them a sense of control. Wise men realize that these monsters are of their own making and end the creatures existence, by stopping them and forcing them into the light of truth. Few are so bold and wise, though, and those who do are deemed gods.  
  
These inner demons haunt us all. But unlike most of us, Ayane demon has a name...  
  
She has never belonged, and the one person to show her love, she killed. She had no choice, it had to be. But now it became a question of why. What was the point? She was no longer who she once was, and she could no longer enjoy her sleep, where her true love Hayate told her that which she so longed to her.  
  
All these thoughts ran through her mind as she awoke. She hadn't slept well scene she killed her dad. But, like a dream, these thoughts were to gone to be remembered, but could never be apart from her again.  
  
She through the sheets off her and got up for a walk. What should she do now? Should she kill the man who is admittedly responsible, that Vic guy? She shut her eyes and remembered:  
  
The auto guns flared and Then shut down, almost as if by magic. But during this period of loss of concentration, the monster had hit That Man. IT was like watching an invincible being, fall from paradise, condemned to be a devil for all eternity. Then, during this, the inhuman thing had turned it's attention twords him, pounding him to a pulp, that weak-minded runaway shinobi bi*ch had acted, attacking the creature. They could have simply left, let him pay for what he had done, "but nooooo, she had to put her big nose in matters that weren't her concern" Ayane thought. All the doors were open and the disordered security force had been easy to destroy. As for That Man, well Bass had carried him...  
  
" Why help him? IS he not the enemy?" She asked the room. IT was a well furnished room, showing an exquisite amount of taste, even in this dim morning light. They had stolen a plane and had left for Zack island. They had gone because it was discreet and only the bank in Sweden and Zack knew about, or so he said. It had been two days, and he had watched the other girls tend to his wounds and had asked why.  
  
The writing seemed to her to be as clear as the daytime sunlight. He had taken her father, her love was next.   
  
No. I will not let him take my love from me, I will kill him. No one will know, it will be an 'accident'. Why should I care if he dies, just one more obstacle to be removed. It has to be done, I will avenge my father. I will stop Him! I defy you stars!!!!!!!  
  
This last line surprised her, it was from Romeo and Juliet, a play that her contuses didn't remember and, like so much else, was lost in the sea of her sub contuse. She pondered this as she walked down the hall. She arrived at His door. Room 411.  
  
She wore her flannel PJ's and, even in that light, retained her beauty. Not a radiant glow, but a normal beauty, the most dangerous kind. She was like a flower that you almost pass over, but has some quality your eye can't refuse. She looked like a fallen angle, and her eyes had such saddens, that anyone might have thought just that. She had not scene any beauty in herself for, a long time, only a monster, a creature made to destroy.  
  
She shook her head, trying to expel these thoughts, as a priest expels demons. She would chock him, that act surprised when she was told. End this be for it began. She opened the door quietly and almost laughed, he had been uncontuse for days.  
  
She walked over to him, took the pillow, and then made the mistake of looking at his face. As she studied it, she saw no demon, set to take her happiness, just him. A man, a thing of flesh in blood   
  
I have to, it is for the good of everyone it it...  
  
She fell to her knees and cried in silence, partly because she had been too weak to succeed and partly because of what she would have done if she hadn't. She left that door thinking, " I leave with his burden, if he is a terator, I will kill him"  
  
She said " You'd better be worth it." And left for another sleepless night in hell.  
  
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	3. 3

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Lost Soul  
  
All of life seems to be a quest to prove our worth. Indeed the only common theme in religion is the need for salvation. All of society, culture, and all other aspects are geared twords pleasing another, be it god, lover, society etc. It as if humanity knows what it could be, and is ashamed of what it is.  
  
For Mike, this is the basis of a lifetime of suffering. When he was a child he viewed his parents death as his fault. How could a child have thought otherwise. His whole life had been devoted to understanding why. What was the sin that he had done to have such retribution inflicted on him. He had searched monasteries and museums, Universities and universes, looking for the answer. And in the end, it couldn't save him.  
  
He woke to conciseness, not a great full man, but a broken one. He blinked a few times and then looked around. He was in a room. It was very nice, king sized bed, ateque furniture, a large balcony looking onto an endless horizon, and he just didn't give a damn. This was the day after Ayane's visit.   
  
"I'm alive" He said to the room, with a hint of sadness.  
  
He felt the low ach of pain in his ribs as he moved. He looked down and found a very nicely made field dressing. He staggered to his feet and went into the bathroom. He looked in a mirror, and noticed he hadn't shaved and had whiskers " So what?" He asked his reflected self. He found his old close, neatly washed and folded on a chair by his bed. He dressed and left the room.  
  
He looked more of a ghost, then a man. What had he done? The atomic bomb, gunpowder, the catlerpult, all palled in comparison to the evil he had unleashed. He had once said that man was good, that he wanted to do what was right. Now he saw the horrid truth, that it was mans nature to fight, to kill. That all forward progress would only be used as a means to that end. And he felt sick.  
  
He found the elevator and hit lobby key. The boring elevator music came on and he stood there, waiting. Wail in the elevator, he realized he didn't feel anymore. Not physical pain, but emotional. It was as if someone had pulled the plug, and this was all that was left. He no longer thought either. Perhaps this was the most bothersome fact of all. He had always had some deep issue he was debating within himself, but now he just didn't care.  
  
He reached the lobby and stepped out. It was a very active scene, with a bunch of people he didn't recognize doing this and that. As he stepped off the elevator, everything stopped. They seemed to exist in completely different worlds and it was like, for that brief second, they could see into the others reality. But, like all things, this passed too quickly.  
  
" You shouldn't be up, your ribs are still broken and you have countless bouses and fractures. How are you up anyways? The pain should have been enough to..."  
  
He rased a hand to silence the voice, without bothering to look at were the voice had come from, it was all pointless anyways. " Physical pain is simply a seris of bio-chemical and electrical signals to the brain, they can be blocked out."  
  
" How, those are anatomic reflexes? No one has control of those." This voice was more sing song then the other. This time he looked up, the floor was boring him. He recognized the speaker at once as the famous opera singer Helena.  
  
" There is a means to do everything, the key is necessity."  
  
" What do you ..." Voice one again, it came from the same red haired girl, who had been yelling at his associates.  
  
" I do not wish to delve into my past, and why I need to know how to block out pain. It would be a pointless waste of time to do so. The key is necessity, but I will not indulge you further then that. I have no time for these frivolities." and on a side note, after a 30 second eternity " You shouldn't have saved me."  
  
They all looked at him, uncomprehendedly. The most startling thing was the matter fo fact way he said it, like he was discussing a new movie or cherry coke vs. regular coke. This timeless silence lasted a whole of about 2 minutes. It was only broken by Vics heavy footsteps to the bar.   
  
" What do you mean, should we have just left you to die?!" Red headed girl again, this time with a certain sense of conviction.  
  
In that same, stone cold voice he said, " Yes, you should have. I have only caused pain and suffering, to prolong my existence any longer is, at best a futile gesture."  
  
" No, thats not right, all things have the right to exist. You didn't do it on purpose..."  
  
" Yes, but I did it. All that matters is actions, intent has no weight. Besides, why put yourself into danger, they'll come looking. I know to much. They will hunt me, and then you, down. What were you saving me from, my own death?" He laughed at this, not a happy laugh, but a cold one that would send shivers down any mans spine. " Your efforts were futile, weather I die today or tomorrow, I will still die, and everything I do is pointless. At least I had a chance at redemption, but fate snatched that away to."  
  
" No, there is more meaning, your alive, you should.."  
  
" What? and make the most of my time in this suburban hell? This conversation is over." At that he walked to the bar, picked up a knife and stuck it in his arm. They all looked at him, paralyzed and sick. After a few seconds he dug out a micro chip, that was under his skin.  
  
" See? It is a tracker, we all had them implanted, when we went to work for DOATEC. IT should have delivered a shook strong enough to kill me once I left the island, but sense it hasn't, my virus must still be reeking havoc."  
  
He took a bottle of alcohol, drank a little and then dumped the rest onto his wound. He let out a groan, and his eyes tread up. He started away. Then he grinded the micro chip to dust between his fingers and began to walk away.  
  
" Where are you..."  
  
" I have to get my thoughts in order." With that, he walked off onto the sandy beach, alone.  
  
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	4. 4

(?) If you see this, then I had no idea how to spell the word, so take your best guess :)  
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Hope  
  
It is said that the pen is mightier then the sword. This is true, but that means that the strongest force is ideas, that true power is not in hitting something, but changing someone's view. In the end, all that is real, is because we choose to see it.  
  
For Kasumi, this change came about too easily. It was as if the embers of doubt, long contained in her soul, were fanned into a raging fire. She had always thought what the stranger had said, but had never accepted it. It seemed to wrong. So it remained hidden, in an underlaying current that effected all her choices. She thought she could overcompensate, always be positive. That was the main reason she stepped in, as if saving his life in that lab would somehow redeem her's, make her existence meaningful again.  
  
But now all the prisons she had that kept these thoughts in, had been shattered, and this truth, Her truth, came to the surface like black oil covers water. In his blasphemous mouth, out of his irreverent words, came that which she feared the most. It was all so futile.   
  
It had been five minutes scene Vic's speech, and still her head was reeling. Inside herself, she could feel a battle for her very soul, growing:  
  
Why? Why do I try so hard? For what, a brother who tries to kill me, a half sister who hates me, dead parents? Whats the point. Yes but I am alive. In what?! A hell, a daily struggle to survive?! Some life. But you could, they might... They won't stop, he won't stop. Why even fight, what is inevitable, why not just accept it? Because such a death would be dishonorable. honor, fuck honor, honor is why I can't go home, honor is why my brother hates me, what good is honor.  
  
She was on the verge of tears, and not a soul in the world cared. She stood in a room full of people, and was so utterly alone. They were all talking, about how ungrateful Vic was, all of them hiding from what he really said, insulating themselfs in deeper layers of lies. "Fuck them" Kasumi thought, " Fuck them all" and she walked out, not with a loud cry, but an inaudible whimper.  
  
She walked onto the beach, not crying, to sacred to go back into that sea of vanity, to sad and alone to appreciate the scenery. She had tried so hard, and yet it doesn't matter, nothing really does.   
  
She was ready to drown herself, to end it all, when something stopped her. Mike knew and accept these truths, and yet he struggled, daily, to live. Why? She needed to know, some part of her soul, needed to know. And for the first time sense her expulsion from her clain, she felt some purpose, she had a quest now, even if it was a short one, and she would see it through.  
  
She looked up, and for the first time, noticed the beach and the sea and the endless sky, and noticed she was crying. She wiped her tears away with anger. Sillouted(?) in that fading sunlight, she seemed a beckon of hope, a light, in a stormy sea. She seemed to pour out beauty, like she was creating it. And for those brief minutes, in the fading sunlight, she was more god then human. But like all of the other great events in our lives, this passed with not a soul, including her, taking any note.  
  
Then, as if she had simply been an illusion for hungry eyes, searching for hope, she vanished. She would trake Mike down at all coasts, she would complete her quest. She had a purpose, and she felt great. For the first time in eons, her life had meaning again.  
  
She found Vic about a mile away, sitting very near the forest that outlined the wilder part of the island. He was clearly meditating, and from that distance, she could have swore that he had a heavenly oar about him. Like she knew, that he could help her, and for the first time, the fear, all her fears of death and suffering and honor, all faded away. She quickly attributed this feeling, not to fate, but to sheer coincidence. That is, perhaps, the true curse of humans, to ignore that which we know to be important.  
  
She proceeded twords him carefully, as a cat stalks her pray. But when she got within 20 yards, she stopped:  
  
What am I doing? He won't understand, no one ever will. How could he understanding my torment? I was fooling myself into thinking he could help me, no one can. Why did I have to even think he could?  
  
She turned to leave and a voice, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere, at the same time said, " I can here you thinking."  
  
She turned, half stunned to see Mike looking at her. It was not a searing glare, not one of contempt or malice, it was one of compassion, with an undefendable sadness that almost brought her to tears. She had been as quite as a mouse, how could he have heard her.  
  
" Tell me, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" He said, in a kindly voice. She couldn't help but think how different he was. He was no longer the harsh robot, who accept death as any normal person accepts life. But he still had that same sadness. The burden on his soul.  
  
As if someone was controlling her, she said, " I bring no honor, with my visit, all it will do is endanger you." Her voice was so sad, as if all the weight of the world rested on her slender, flawless shoulders.  
  
" Surly you jest, such radiant beauty, in and of itself, carries with it honor. Better to die, looking at something beautiful." He said, not with a hint of insincerity, yet at the same time, lacking the quality of falseness that most of those types of comments carry.  
  
" Why?" This was all she could get out, be for she broke down completely into tears. She fell to her knees, like her burden had become to heave for her to bear and just sobbed. It was the most sad noise to exist, it was the sound of a strong spirit, a beautiful and pure and good person, snapping. It was a sound that, to this day, still echos in the heads of whoever was unfortunate enough to hear it.  
  
She was not sure what happened next, she seemed to be floating in misery. But then, as if lightning had stuck, she felt a presence close to her own. She cried, for the first time, she cried, not out of sadness, but of joy. "Someone on this godforsaken mudball cares" She thought joyously. As this worm, carrying, body, sat close to her.  
  
They stayed like that, covered in a comforting dark, just sitting, not saying anything, for what seemed like lifetimes... 


	5. 5

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Rebirth  
  
It has been said that when two people are truly in love, time, space, all of that garbage becomes meaningless. Perhaps that is loves true power, to allow you to re-define your own reality. They say that loves can sit with each other for hours, without having to say a word. Just sit in a rare comfortable silence and simply exist, not try to prove anything. Perhaps it is why love is so coveted, just to be at peace with yourself, just to Be yourself.  
  
And so they sat, 2 kindred spirits, speaking poetry in volumes, without saying a word. She dosed off several times, as did Vic, but there was something indescribable in that embrace. It was as if all the world had stopped, and had somehow found harmony with all who live on her. The songs they sung to each other, with rythems of the soul, few, if any, have ever heard such a hauntingly beautiful sounds.  
  
They had sat, just sat, for almost three hours, and watched as the remaining embers of light, died away angerly, with violent red and orange. Vic looked down, and considered the weirdness of what had happened, he didn't even know her name, yet he felt he had known her for lifetimes. There was something beautiful in feeling mussels, which felt like they had been tense sense she was born, losses.  
  
In time, the sweet lullaby of island nights, with the ocean so gently beating the shore, and the crickets sing there sweet songs, put him asleep too:  
  
He was standing in front of an ancient building, which he recognized as his former monastery, The place were he had spent so many hellish days and sleepless nights. The master of this place, a particularly wise man, who had a long beard, and an undefinable ora of peace, had scene some potenchal(?) in Vic and, like any good master, sought to bring it out. This meant that his path was much harder then almost all his peers...  
  
" No! Do not seek to see the fly, feel him out."  
  
He was in the mist of a sparing mach, fight three of the schools best students, and getting his ass kicked. " How can I fight, when I can't see" Vic protested, he was wearing a blindfold. He had fought for three hours, and could no longer feel his legs. This was where his training radicle differed from anyone, except those from his own school, in normal marshal arts, there is an order, white belt fights white, ect., you are evenly matched. Here, there is no such thing, from day one you fight the master, so fighting is not for honor, or for a pastime, you fight to live. Many people die during this training, Darwin called it natural selection, and they employ it perfectly, without even knowing who Darwin is. Each day you either train or you study in complete solitude. Every night, at any time, the master may attack you. You seek to survive.  
  
"Again!" the master voice yelled...  
  
He opened his eyes and shook off that memory. It was when he had first advance, after 3 years of training. He had learned so much, and found so much, but in the end it didn't matter. His master and he had disagreed, he had scene sickness sweep across the world in a matter of months, and he knew he could cure it. His master had said to leave it alone, that any attempt he made would, in the end, cause disharmony. In the end his master had called him a foolish westerner, and he had called his mentor an escapist.  
  
He had left that stormy night, to fix the worlds problems. He laughed at himself now, how foolish he had been. How stupid...  
  
The nights peaceful silence was broken by a coo. It was a sound of one waking up from a dream, and finding it had come true. She looked up into his eyes, and he couldn't help but be scared. Her eyes seemed to go on forever and pierce his very soul.   
  
" Hi" She uttered.  
  
" Hi, it's still late, you should try to get more sleep."  
  
" No," she said, " I feel to(o?) wonderful to sleep."  
  
Again the oddity struck him and he remembered a line from some forgotten book of poem, " I never you knew, I knew you for lifetimes, I just met you, I've known you scene be for god was born."   
  
" What wrong?" She asked him, almost as if reading his eyes.  
  
" I feel bad for what I said. I had no right to. I.."  
  
" They had to wake up sometime. I am glad you did what you did."  
  
" No, it wasn't right. I should have left them alone. I wasn't right, life, simply because it exists, has meaning. All things for simply being, have energy. That is the greatest and worst thing about being human, you make your own path... I don't even know your name. I feel as if this whole thing is happening too fast."  
  
" Does that matter, why should it matter who we were? That is all a past is, isn't it? A projection of who we were."  
  
" Yes, but..."  
  
" I feel the same way" She got up and stretched a little, " But I live day to day, I have to, I am sorry, if I made you.... uncomfortable"  
  
" I dare say you have made me the most comfortable I have ever been, but I just don't know."  
  
" Why? What aren't you sure of? Doesn't it just feel right to you."  
  
" Yes, and that's what scares me, I'm afraid. The last thing I loved, died."  
  
" If you need time then take it," She said, but without any malice " I will still be here. Why do you go on?"  
  
" What?"  
  
" That is what I wanted to ask last night. What is the point."  
  
" I can't tell you, because I don't know. I devoted my life to trying to understand what it means to be alive. My master once said something, ' look at it, life. You are there, though whatever divine force, and for whatever purpose, you exist. You can feel the breeze, and taste your food. You can go where you want. Realize that every second is not discovered, but made. That you are creating your world, not finding, and see the miracle of it all', I never saw what he said, but, That is the nearest I have come."  
  
She nodded, slightly, and with that was gone. She was like a dream, to good to be true, yet to real to denie. He stood there, looking at the sun rising, and thinking how he should apologize to all them, but mostly thinking about her...  
  
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	6. 6

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Prelude   
They say that there is always a Lule before a storm. Almost as if nature is preparing it self for the reckoning hour. In mythology storm were always considered wars between gods. And the destruction and mayhem they cause it nature was just the natural extent of that. Modern science would refute such claims as fairy tales, and yet almost every major culture looks at a storm as an omen, with almost the same aw that accents looked on them with, struggles of two forces beyond our very comprehension. Our fate, our very souls, hanging in the balance of such divine rivalry. Powerless and only waiting for the out come. Such is the stuff of fairytales and the dreams of great poets, but it has been my experience that myth always conveys some hidden truth...  
  
Helena Had ben the first up that morning, at 5 A.M. She enjoyed the solitude and listening to classical music and opera. But her mind was to concerned to be focused on the peaces. She hd listen to Vics comments and had been thinking them through, unfortunately, he made sense And on top of that both he and Kasumi had vanished. Perhaps what troubled her the most, however, was a bazaar request by Gen Fu. He asked to see copies of what this man had done, his credenchals(?), everything. The majority of this was a well guarded secret by zealous members of the anti Douglass faction. There were, however, some loyalties left to her late father. She had got everything she could. She didn't know why Gen Fu would ask for this info. Maybe it had to do with his grand daughter, and her genetic illness.  
  
She was sitting in the main lobby, and looking out the window, in to a mangiest sunrise, almost as if the old world, so full of evil and wrong, had been destroyed and this sun had now looked on the world, as it should have been, and was proud of it. The lobby itself was spaceshous(?) and nice. It wasn't your average cheap lobby, it was obviously intended to be a meeting place. The room was filled with comfortable furniture. There was a large T.V. against one wall and the other walls were filled with windows. There was a kitchen that was visible there as well. The east windows spued in sunlight like a leaky roof lets in rain. It was supposed to be a nice day, but something didn't feel right.  
  
It was like magic, they just all seemed to appeared. Rumors spread like wildfire about what had happened, ranging from they had murdered each other, to they had eloped. She looked over the crowd and just drowned in the chaos. The separate voices flowing together into one, unrecognizable, stream of sounds. She had her own ideas as to what happened, but wasn't ready to share them, they weren't nearly as nearly as extravagant as death matches, or star crossed lovers.   
  
She walked out onto the balcony and looked at the sky. It was blue, but dark clouds were appearing like factions of a rouge army. They looked omonis and bleak. The good weather wouldn't hold., it was just an illusion... clung to before a devastating storm, they'd be lucky to live through..  
  
She stopped herself, and thought, "what a strange thought to have, must be reading to much poetry". She stood out there, with her tea and just watched the sky for a few more minutes before she heard.  
  
" So what do you think?"  
  
She recognized the voice at once, because of it's innocense and naivete as Leifang. " I am trying not to."  
  
" I heard the truth, they stole a jet ski and rode off into the sunset."  
  
" right..."  
  
At that, almost as if on cue, Kasumi appeared. She walked in, without looking up and saying a word. All eyes feel on her and Helena thought, "how embarrassing." She looked the same, but there was some unrecognizable quality in the way she carried herself. She seemed to be more dignified, more sure of something...  
  
" Where have you been" It was her brothers voice, a note of concern was odveous.  
  
She looked at him with something beyond hatred, a look of loathing. " Why do you care? Scared your assassins wouldn't find me?" She said this in the same cold, lifeless way Vic had talked earlier. And it obviously startled her brother. It shocked everyone, she had never talked this way before, she was the die hard optimist.  
  
He looked genuinely hurt, and was about to reply when the first bolt of lightening was heard. Helena listen to it, as the cannons of heaven or hell clashed and wondered, pensively, who would win this war.   
  
The storm began to grow more fierce and she listen to the haunting orchestra of heaven. The weather channel was on and it was the same old saver storm crap. The room turned dark, almost instantly and all that was left was the mild glow of electric lights, which pailed in comparison to the once radiant sun.  
  
It was then that the door was through open, as if by wind, and in stepped Vic. If the silence which had greeted Kasumi was intense, this was maddening. HE walked in, eyes downcast and said.  
" I am sorry, for what I said earlier. I had no right, I wasn't thinking clearly."  
  
She looked at him, he looked human. Not this monster or madman, just a normal guy, who happened to wear PJ's all the time. She heard a voice retort.  
  
" So should we just forgive you, what you said, no apology can be issued for." It was Jan Lees voice, full of hatred. " You have chosen your path now walk it !"  
  
He began to speak then stopped. She saw he was really concentrating hard. His face showed lies of intenseness, but she felt it wasn't on what to say next. He crossed the room and turned up the stereo. It was Ode to Joy. And he stood there, nobody was sure what to do.  
  
" Vic..."  
  
He rased a hand, and this gesture, seemed to demand obedience. He then but a finger to his lips, but his eyes remained close. After a few more seconds, his eyes snapped open, as if they were on springs, and began frantically scanning the room, the same way a mother does, when she has lost her child in a crowd.   
  
" We don't have to take this..."  
  
" Whoever is behind the curtain, near the large balcony, you have 3 seconds to show yourself, then I come in after you. This is not a bluff." His voice thundered. It was not the volume, but the intenseness, that made it so fierce. It drowned out every other sound, even that of the raging storm. She looked at his eyes, and noticed an intensity she had never witnessed be for, and at that moment she realized that he would do, or die trying to do. He would not be stopped, even by himself, he was, as his peers described him, ' a model of efficiency'  
  
" One, Two, Three," At three he charged, he looked more like a beast then a man. A beast that hadn't eaten in days, and had just caught wind of it's new meal. When he was within 5 Ft., a figure burst out and through a throwing star. This person was dressed in all black, and looked like a skilled fighter. What struck Helena as strange was the fact that the star wasn't aimed at him. It's trigectory was all wrong it didn't make any sense.  
  
Then, suddenly, with speed that rivaled lightning, his had shot up and he grasped the star safely, between his index and middle finger. The stranger had broken the nearest window and had jumped out. Vic, turned his body, kicked the wall, and did a sharp 90* turn, without losing any momentum. He jumped out the window, without any hesitation, like he had done it before. Next the 4 other shinobs ran after that, in pursuit. They moved with an inhuman skill and seemed to fly.  
  
Everyone else, looked at each other and then ran for the stairs, each going in there own way. Helena ran. She had no motor bike and thought such activates as that, beneath her. But now she wished she had one. The storm overhead gained momentum and the battle of the gods looked like it was about to begin...  
  
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	7. 7

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The darkness  
Perhaps man's greatest fault is to be able to justify anything. All people have an inherent scene of right and wrong, but we often let bull shit principles get in the way. We loose ourselfs in a world of necessary evils and acceptable losses. We can easily fool ourselfs into causing pain. Man knows what he must do, but rarly listens.  
  
Vic went flying through the trees, at a pace that surprised him. He wasn't thinking, a benefit of his style training. IT was all reflex action, so he was as fast as possible. Most of the time people forced their instinct down, they seem to get in the way. But now, Vic was in tune with his instinct to an unbelievable ecstant(?). He was more animal then human, at that point. He could hear the forest itself, almost as if the very wind carried a voice that was saying, ' left ahead, go right, don't stop.' And for that all too brief seconds, he felt a part of nature, not above it.   
  
He heard a noise, like the sharp cutting of air, and into focus, as if by magic, appeared some throwing stars. He avoided these, without losing any speed and yelled "Incoming" to no one in particular. The assassin was just barely in his sight, and probably wondering how he could be so easily detected in such a dark and stormy day. The rain came down in sheets now, and was painful to those it hit, it was like the earth itself was trying to purify itself, washing in holy water and expelling the demon of man. But if this was her intent, it was futile, for the 5 continued on into the black day, on into the heart of the storm.  
  
The others weren't sure what to think, they merely acted on pure instinct. They would have followed Vic into hell without a second thought. It was as if he had some power emitting from him, that you could follow, or cease to have any purpose. They flew through the trees with equal agility, wonder to themselfs, quietly, how he had learned this shinobi trick.  
  
To any spectator this would have scene a beautiful and inhuman display of grace and fines. To look at it was almost as if to look into a dark room, and have know idea what monsters may lay in wait. They seemed to be spawned from the darkness, a part of it, coming out of it, and then disappearing into it. And to the wandering eye of a spectator, it wold seem that they were some superhuman thing, not man at all.  
  
Another throwing star, this one was high, and snapped off a branch above Vic's head. Without the hesitation of thought that any of the others would have had, the thought that would have lost him the game, he grabbed the branch and chucked it into a dark and stormy sea, knowing without knowing that it would hit it's target.   
  
The next noise didn't belong, even in such a dark and tempest storm, it didn't belong. It was a subtle thud. In reality it wasn't loud, yet to Vic, this sound was the loudest sound in the forest, and it echoed through his very soul. He jumped and landed, flawlessly. He stood in a clearing, and for the first time, became aware of the chile of the wind, and of the death in the air. Yet it only seemed a whisper now, like this storm was a taste of what was to come and somewhere, deep in his very essence, he felt shivers of fear, not at this moment, but at the moments that must come. Yet even he, in his current state of mind, would not recognize these thoughts, so he stood shivering, and didn't know why.  
  
He heard 4 more thumbs behind him, and knew who they were. Across the clearing, about 12 ft. away, lied the assassin. He seemed a scared animal, his eyes searching frantically for escape, but to know avail. It was easy enough to tell he wasn't from DOATEC, he looked more like something out of medieval Japan then a modern assassin. He was dressed in black, and had only weapons sticking out of his close.  
  
Vic began to wake up form his dream-like state, like he always did, listening to music, only he could hear. Somehow this music stood as a bridge for him, a halfway point between the insanity he was in now, and his regular state of mind. Perhaps in his fighting state, he was more sane then everyone else, but this didn't occur to him. Sanity was what everyone else was, and he wasn't. In any case, he listened to his silent music and came back to a semi conchus state.  
  
Then a throwing star was released, as it neared his head, and looked like a sure hit, he reached up and snatched it out of the air, like it had already been there. He studied the instrument intended for his own death quietly, and then trough it away, with no more thought then one gives to disregarding old cans. A second came at him, and again he caught it, but this time he looked at his asssasin with a smile. He through a third. and it was caught too.  
  
" Listen to me very carefully, I will only say this once" Vics voice boomed, with the same authority as it had in the lounge. " Fate is not kind, she makes you suffer for what you have done. She has brought far stronger men then you or me to their knees, merely on a wim. She would destroy you, turn your very soul into ash. She would laugh as she takes all that means anything to you, and rips it away. But I am not so cruel as fate. You were doing what you thought was right, and in your own demented illusion, it was. But it is not my place to judge of condemn you, leave, never come back, and I will spare you. You have been warned, come back again and I won 't be held accountable for my actions. Now Go."  
  
His peers looked on, amazed and alarmed. He would just let this man, who had tried to kill him go. His voice echoed through the forest and the stormy night, becoming part of them both. He didn't sound angry, but remorseful, like he was taking pity on this man for his current state of affaires.  
  
" I can't, I, I .. I will not yield top you!!" yelled the assassin in retort. He got up and attacked. It was a mad charge, born of utter hatred for the mercy that had been shown to him. Vic stepped to the side and tripped the assassin. He hit the ground. The asssasin sprang back up and punched, Vic caught it. It was odveous that the assassin wouldn't stop until one of them was dead, odveous to everyone but Vic. And then, a horrible sound sprung out from there fight. The sound os the crunch of bones. The assassin had his lower arm and wrist both broken. It had happened so fast that in the assassin's eyes shot pure disbelief, before the pain came through. He screamed an unearthly wail, and fell to the ground. Vic let the now disfigured arm slip from his, and drop to the ground. It was as effortless, like crushing a can, and Vic seemed to think no more of it then that. In Vics eyes was the same pity as before, like this fight, the storm, none of this meant anything, all he saw was a lost boy, who needed help. He spoke again, soothingly.  
  
" Now you will leave, you have fought one who was more skilled and lost. There is no dishonor in that."  
  
The asssasin looked up with more then hatred, it was loathing now. He had hot tears of anger in his eyes, for what he couldn't do. He got to his feet, and without looking at anyone but Vic, got ready to go.  
  
" Wait!" Vics voice thundered and it surprised them all, this was more commanding then anything else he had said. He walked up the assassin, and garbed at him, then withdrew a sinkers bar from the assassin pocket, " Leave" he said, and the asssasin went, with loathing it tow.   
  
Vics eyes changed from pity to unreal gratitude. He had the look of a child on his first Christmas, after Santa had visited. He opened the candy and devoured it, carful not to leave an ounce of chocolate in the rapper.  
  
" Hungry?" This came from a new arrival at their little clearing, the others were catching up.   
  
" Fuck yes, I mean fuck, I haven't eaten a thing in 4 fucking days, lets see how you do?" He said, playfully.  
  
" 4 days?!"  
  
" Well, it was on my to-do list, but I had other shit to take care of."  
  
"Well, I can cook," the same voice, " Let's go back and I would make you as much food as you want."  
  
"I would be forever in your debt, if you could do that. But first I must do one thing. You bastard, what the fuck is wrong with you, trying to kill your own sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
HE was looking right at Hayate, and this revelation seemed to stun everyone but the two who stood there, staring at each other. At that a huge thunder clasp, and a strong wind, carrying with it lost souls, blew by.  
  
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	8. 8

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Defying the Universe  
  
Perhaps the most deplorable act of any human is to fall pray to some meaningless tradition. It as if to say to the universe that you quite, you no longer seek your own path, you were merely walk someone else. Tradition is what happens when thinking stops and, in it's place, comes meaningless ruten, and obedience. It is thanks to strong tradition that the crusades were raged, thanks to strong tradition that lunatics like Hitler take power, and thanks to strong tradition, that brothers kill sisters...  
  
Hayate knew what he was trying to do was wrong. He also knew how foolish it must have looked to an outsider, but to him, it was all that mattered, it was all there really was:  
  
How could an upstart outsider possible imagine the importance of honor. It was all there was, and she had forsaken that, she was no longer fit to bear the name that I won't speak with her's, and yes, she must die, so that her honor can be restored. All I have done,. Or will do is based on honor, and I will kill both of them for challenging my resolve  
  
Even as he thought this, the silent questions seemed to grow more intense. It was as if his mind was saying 'honor' but his heart and soul said 'NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!'. But, like so many other human endeavor, right and wrong took a backseat to old school morality. The same morality that says it is better to have 2 drunk, abusive parents, then 2 gay ones. It didn't matter though, tradition before self.  
  
And so they stood there, Hayate facing what he viewed as the personification of everything he hated in himself. Before him stood not a man named Vic, but the demon of doubt, and he would silence it forever, like so many other things, with cold steal, and superior strength. He would kill them, then he would be the true clainsleader, he would do his sister the honor of a Nobel death, and redeem her soul.  
  
He looked around and saw the full furry of the storm. What had started off as mere black clouds had grown to a thunder show of destruction. The rain fell harder and harder, and the whole earth seemed to shake at this show of power. It was as if the world was giving birth, to something better then itself, but was killing itself to do so.The clearing had filled by now with the other fighters, who seemed to marvel at the storm. He stood strong though, for he knew the storm well...  
  
It was as if the rest of the world didn't exist and before him, stood all his doubts and fears, ready for destruction. " So you figured it out, How?"  
  
" The sword is of the same unique design as hers, you 2 also have similar builds and tans, meaning your from relatively the same place, I put two and two together. How did I know she was your sister? Well I have been working with your genes for 3 years now, I know who is related to whom."  
  
It was as if they were talking about coffee preference, not life. Yet somewhere in those calm voices hung the souls of men and gods. As if destiny herself had ordained this fight and the whole earth reeved in anticipation. As if Revelation's prophecy were about to be determined by one fight.  
  
" You will die, I will honor my family by sacrificing you, and then give my sister back her honor."  
  
" Shut up and listen, to that nonesence, you'll taking to lives, not doing so ritual, your killing."  
  
" Who are you to judge my tradition, It is based in thousands of years..."  
  
" Your morality is made by men, therefor it is as flawed a creation as any other man made thing. I have always said, People before Principles, because prinicibals are always made by fucked up people. What gives you the right to take our lives, what god gave you, personally, that divine mission?"  
  
" I will do what's right!!!" He screamed, trying to drawn his own doubt out in the rain and nose of his voice.  
  
" Then follow your own heart, not someone else's" Vic retorted, in the same cold, cool voice.  
  
" I.. I .. You will die"  
  
" Shut up and fight"  
  
At that the very heavens exploded releasing thunder that was never heard before. Hayate charged. With the strength of all the shinobes he charged, and he landed a hit:  
  
He is no match for us. We are the sinobes, our morality will overcome all else we will..  
  
Laughing, it was a horrible laugh, not the least bit fake, yet it seemed to rip all of Hayate's hopes away. So there they stood, his fist on Vics nose, Vics head tilted back, and a madding laughter spilling out of him. He had hit him hard, what was so..  
  
" Is that the best you can do?" At that Vic lowered his head to revile a huge smile, a bloody and disfigured nose, and those same animal eyes, that seemed to glisten in the storm like two unholy jeams. " Because if it is, you should leave now. You have form, but lack stopping power and resolve, your hearts not in it, the day is mine."  
  
At that he lifted his foot and kicked Hayate, sending him flying into a tree, breaking the tree, and having him sprawled on some rocks. He was just getting up when 5 or 6 fists were landed in his chest. He would have cried out, but his head was smashed into a rock.  
  
HE stood up, and realized that he couldn't win, the demon, his doubt, would win, he couldn't.   
" How? How can you do this to me?! I am the strongest shinobe, I am the leader I am..."  
  
" Full of doubt, you have convinced your mind, but your spirt is not in it. You can not beat me, 'A house divided can't stand' Your chi is out of harmony, and you can never win."  
  
" No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A weak punch, easily avoided by Vic, and then a thud, as he lay on his back, starring at the sky, and the cause of his humiliation.  
  
" Here is how this will work, your sister is now officially my student in the art of Toa-ru. If you attack her, you attack me, you attack me, and you attack a trib of people who are much stronger then me and haven't been on a 3 year vacation from fighting. You may leave with your precious honor, however, I yield to a superior fighter. Take the lonely path you have chosen and walk it."  
  
" No, Mark these words, I will kill you for such an aggrieves insult. You will die at my hand!!!" He screamed this, and then laughed insanely as he ran into the storm he knew so well, the only true friend he had.  
  
" You have made a powerful enemy, my brother won't be stopped." It was Kasumi's voice, with more concern for him then her brother.  
  
" Perhaps", But Vic had stopped listening, he was thinking of what was to come...  
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	9. 9

This is very very depressing, at least in my opinion, the theme is bad. NEVER EVER EVER try to commit suicide, it isn't a good idea. Someone always cares, if worst comes to worst, I care because that means you won't read this:) Seriously though, if you feel like this, get help. I am in no way encouraging this, I felt the need to write a ch. dealing with darker parts of the human soul. thanks  
  
Short, but not sweet  
  
If you are of a weaker constitution, don't read this, basically it is Ayanes suicide, or attempt? It is just more detailed then that.  
  
Well, here we go again...  
  
If any one is Hindu, I did not mean to offend, I was simply fascinated by your mythology.....  
  
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Shiva  
  
In huinduism the God shiva is the god of distruction. He is not feared, like satin is in the west, but rather he is revered. Some have found it strange, why worship a being that leaves in it's wake only distruction, suffring and death? The reson is only through these things can rebirth occure, only through pain, can we leartn who we are, a sword must be put into the fire, befor it is stronger. In the words of the red hot chilli pepers, 'distruction leads to a very rouff road, but it also brings creation...'  
  
In truth, suicide is not some richal for punioshment. It is not some last ditch cry for attention. It is simply a way out. People who do it feel the need to protect who they are, in a twistedn way, it is an act of self presevation, a last chance at escaping, the finel cry to some apithetic god.  
  
Ayane needed to sleep, that was all she knew now. She wanted to sleep forever, to live in the land of dreams where life weas not so hard, where love was just a step away. Perhaps it was her fituge, or the fact that she couldn't think clearly, but she wanted more then anything, for the pain to stop:  
  
Hayate had run off into the woods, and Vic had just staired after him. They all questioned him, and were in awe of him, but she hated him, she hated him for helping Her, she hated him for embaressing her love, but, most of all, she hated him because when Kasumi was with him, you could see Her pain melt away. Ayane had gone in after Hayate, into the heart of the storm. She wanted to comfort him, merely to see him woulkd be enouf. She found him and...  
  
She shook her head vishously, trying to forget, trying to forget everything, and somehow feeling better. She looked around for the first time. She was balled up of the floor of the bathroom. To her right was the shower, to her left, the shattered mirror, she could no longer stand to look at herself. Laying all over the floor, almost like snowflakes, were broken peaces of the glass. She looked at her fist, it was bleedin g from the punch she had delivered, and in it she grasped her escape, her only way out.   
  
It had become a beautiful day, almost as if fate herself was laughing, mocking her. She hated the sun, and the happy birds, let the only truth, the truth of nothingness, envolpe the world and her. Let it have her very soul, in exchange for the timeless slep of a child:  
  
" I am scared though" Ayanes meek voice protested. She was about six and was sitting at the room in her step fathers house. She had lived there for almost a year. Ever scene she was little, she was veiwed as a discrase, a burden to her parents, a constant reminder of their sin and infideltity. She was shun by the community, but was to young to understand. Then her parents had died.   
  
Of course people were more then willing to take in Kasumi, but she was alone. She was expled from the villege, unofficaliy. She wandered around aimlessly and, evenchually, some kinder deity took pity on her and guided her to her step fathers villege. Her father found her, passed out from a heavy soul and took her in. He didn't care about who she had been, who her parents were, he only cared for her. In time she would grow strong, she would set out to prove herself, not to her father, but to herself. She would kill anyone who tried to hurt her, she could controll her own destine, with her own hands.  
  
" Ayane, there is nothing to be scared of, there is nothing bad here." This was her fathers voice, it had that smae indiscribable quolity that all fathers voices' have. It was filled with loving consern..  
  
" I don't want to go asleep, because you will be gone when I wake up" She said, nearing histarics now.  
  
" Don't be silly," He said kindly, lovingly, " I will never leave you, I will always be with you." She had been like this scene the day he found her. It was as if kindness was such a forenien consept, that she could only beleave it in a dream, that the second she closed her eyes, she would wake into the depths of hell.   
  
He looked at her, his silly little Ayane, and was filled with saddness. 'What had she gone througn' he thought. " Alright, how about we keep eachother compone then, would that be all right?" he asked.  
  
She nodded her head, and he crossed the room. He sat down next to her, and she evenchally feel into a deep and peaceful sleep. Then he would quietly leave, promesing silently to always be with this poor creature.  
  
" But your not here now" She said into the room, with a voice so remorsful that even in hell, people weeped for her. " And it's all my fult". At that the instrument of freedom went over her wrist.   
  
A strange thing happened. As the blood driped out, so did everything else. Her worries, her cares, they all left, and, for the first time, she could her the beauty of the birds sone, and, slowly, she passed into a deep sleep...  
  
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	10. 10

Ch.9  
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Guardians  
  
Every culture has beings contained in it's myth that serve as our protectors. These beings exist on a completely different plain of reality, yet they still care for us. Many have used these beings to explain unbelievable coincidence. Many more have used they as a 'physical' manifestation of God's love. The most popular name for these beings is angle...  
  
'To death do you part', that is the line that priest say before you are wed. Ask any widow and they will tell you, death is no match for love. Love is the ultiment expression of our souls, it is what we were meant to do. More often then not, bull shit get's in the way and we find our selves scared. But, if there is some part of humans that live on after death, surely it is love...  
  
Vic walked down his hallway twords his room, 411. He had just had a huge dinner in the lobby, and was feeling pretty good. It was about six, and the day had turned out beautifully. The storm that had once seem to engulf their very souls had vanished into the abyss that had spawned it. He walked down the hall and thought of the evening:  
  
he had fallowed them back to the hotel, everyone but Hayate and some girl with pinkish, puperal hair. They had feed him, and they had talked on this and that. They were actually treating him like he was a member of the group, not an outsider. Vic thought it was because of his victory, he had proven himself, but whatever the reason, they...  
  
HE came crashing back to reality, suddenly. He wasn't sure why, or how, but he knew something was wrong. He had learned long ago that he must trust his instinct, they were something that wouldn't betray him. His head shot around the hall, eyes darting wildly, and the same intensity that was in the lounge came back to him. He looked down the hall and up the other side. It was a nice hall, with candelas for lighting hanging about 7 ft. apart from each other. There were intricate murals on the ceiling, and flowers were etched into the wall, even the rug reflected a huge amount of taste. Then his eyes stop inexerply on a door that was at the end of his hall. He Knew that that was the door...  
  
' Run'. He heard a voice, as clear as day, yet without hearing it, only finding it in his mind. It scared him, ' So I must have finally taken the plunge and gone insane,' he thought, ' well, if that is the case, then I might as well humor my insanity.' He took of for the door.  
  
When he got there he hesitated and looked at the door. The door appeared to look like a door, the only difference between his and this door was the number, 424. Yet, as he went to turn the doorknob, he felt a shiver of fear. It was as if he had stubbled on the gateway into the very pits of hell, and it was about to suck him in. The darkness and that oozed off the door was almost tangible, like it could be caught and kept in a jar. And, for the first time in a very long time, he felt fear. He didn't fear death, but this simple door of wood seemed to have a fate much worse then mere death.  
  
He shook his head and bit at his nails. 'It is just a door' he told himself, trying, desperately, to convene himself of this lie. It was not the darkness he fears, it is what lay sleeping in that darkness. Then, as if guided by some outside force, like something took hold of his hand, he reached, grasped, and turned the knob.  
  
There was no physical wave of evil. There was no visible demon at the other side, who lay ready to steel is soul, it looked just like his room. Yet there was still that darkness, that fear, and as he opened the door, he could feel it grow with anticipation.   
  
" Hello?" His voice seemed forenig, not his at all. He peeked in and looked. IT was just like his, accept the balcony was on the other side, and the paintings were different. He looked at the balcony and saw that it was open, and a steady breeze blew in. This breeze gave life to the white drapes, and even they seemed to be an echo of the great darkness that lurked, every one of there movements seemed ominous, and they swayed in the breeze, looking like the white wearing ghosts of our youth. He began to walk in, slowly, not glancing anywhere but the balcony, that was where he would attack from if....  
  
" Mother fucker!!!" He said, with pain in his voice. He lifted his foot and noticed there was a sliver of glass imbedded in it. He looked down and noticed how there was a trail of glass leading into the bathroom. He fallowed it, and knew that this was where he was meant to go...  
  
What he saw next was a scene that he would never forget. It was an image that became part of his very soul. It would never truly leave him, and would haunt him, like a furry*. IF he lived a thousand years, he knew he would still never forget that image. That this horrible scene, and his parents gory demise would be what he saw, all he saw, when he blinked...  
  
He opened the door in a great thrust, not wanted to endure the horrible suspense of last time. He glanced up and saw the most horrific, haunting, and beautiful scene. It was not the normal beauty, but the beauty an out of control fire has. Shards of glass lie strewn about on the floor, reflecting the horrific scene.  
  
There, on the ground, balled up like burnt paper, she lay. Next to her lay a puddle of red blood, some of which had dried. She was pale. The horrible red still spewed from the incisions she had made on her arms. She was unconscious. Next to her lay a large broken peace of glass, tainted with the liquid red impurity. He absent-mindedly noted that she was naked, and that her hair was still a little moist, but these things seemed infinitesimal, compared to the rest of the scene. He couldn't help but think of christen dogma, that angles forced from heaven become demons, and she looked like one of these fallen angles. He was repulsed, and at the same time, couldn't rip his eyes away from this hauntingly beautiful scene.  
  
" Oh Jesus, what have I done," He whispered, he couldn't stand the scene anymore, could no longer bare to look upon the fruits of his labor, what he had driven her to do. He knew, after the fact, that it was her step father who they, who HE, had made into the Ogema man." It's all my fault, oh sweet god what have I done" He said on the verge of tears.  
  
Then he recoiled and threw himself out of the room. He had just reached the door, when he colaspesed to his knees and threw up:  
  
I didn't want this, I wanted to help people, Oh god what have I done. It isn't your fault.  
Yes it is, I took her father, I killed her soul, Oh god what have I done. I Have to save her, even if it caus me my life, I must. Why? Why did it work out this way, I just wanted to help, not cause pain. Why, why do you condemn me to live this farce of a life? Why must every thing I do go so wrong?! I Hate You !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
This last thought suprized him, he had never thought it outloud. It was something that he had hidden. And he was truly scared, and he felt the tears come from his eyes. Tears that he hadn't known scene his parents death, tears of pure, unrelenting, pain.  
  
Then the same voice that had said run, said, 'wake up.' Then he realized how presshous little time she had, they all had, and he sprang into action. He checked the blood, the amount lost, and worked with an inhuman skill and calais that only field medics in war posses. He studied the wounds, the blood, and simply functioned. It was a handy trick, his body would do the work, and his mind would be somewhere different, anywhere.  
  
He decided he had to move her, take her to a place where he could work on her. He picked her up, gently, cradling her. She could have weighed a thousand pounds and he wouldn't have noticed, she felt light as air to him. Then he began his walk twords the elevator. His mind was reeling, and still in a dream like state, and he thought, as all people do when they can't accept reality, 'this is a dream, I will wake up, Oh please wake up'  
  
He reached the elevator, and looked at the buttons. There was no need to embarrass her further, she had been through more then enough. That meant the lobby was out. He searched the list of what was on each floor frantically looking for anything. He stopped on a floor marked 'game room.' A billiards table would be perfect, well lite, and long enough. He hit that button and proceeded twords the floor.   
  
It was empty when he got there, and he realized how utterly alone he was with his new burden, how isolated he was. He set her on the billiards table, and ripped his blood stained shirt. He preceded to make a tourniquet. HE then ran twords the elevator and hit lobby.  
  
He stepped out not cool and composed, but frantic. He stood there, in blood stained close and when he came into view, everyone gasped. " There has been an incident" He said, In his best Dr. voice.  
  
He told them a censored version of what had happened, 'let her keep some of her dignity' he thought. Then he made a list of what he would need, asked about a hospital, of corse there wasn't one. On the list he wrote:  
  
1. Blood kit ( check lifeguard station)  
2. ID for blood type  
3. lots of alcohol  
4. sewing needle and thread  
5. gloves  
6. lighter  
7. assistant  
  
They brought him what he needed, and he told them he would call when he needed item number 7. He worked long into the night, fighting off the angle of death, that seemed to stand at her side. Eventually he called for someone, and then he began to give his own blood to her. By luck, or fate, they were both AB. He passed out next to her, and all of the world waited...  
  
______________________________________________________________________________  
  
* furry- a reference to ancient Greek mythology, a demon born of the blood of chronous, that haunts men when they do something wrong 


	11. 11

Ch. 10  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
Dreams   
  
They say everyone needs to dream. It has been proven physiologically that without REM sleep, subjects go insane. What is in these dreams, what are they? Some say they are your mind venting, some say they are random neurons firing. I think they are echos of what should be, but never is, a glance at what we once were, but can never again  
  
"Hahaha" this voice belonged to Ayane, she was about 3. It was the day of a festival and the streets were lined with colorful decorations. It was a lovely evening, and the whole day had been spent having fun. Now they were making their way twords central square, to watch the fireworks.   
  
Ayane was amazed at the magic everywhere. The way the streets looked, the way everyone acted, and she thought that this truly must be a special day, a day she shouldn't forget, but she did forget, eventually. She looked down, even she had been touched by the magic, she was allowed to wear the special comono that here mom had made her. The streets were lined with normally buissy vendors, now empty, but colorfully decorated...  
  
" Your it" This voice was Kasumi. Anyane was too young to have the hardened hatred for her. To young to know what it was to hate, and so they played together, running at their parents feet. She was also to young to notice the looks that she was given by most of the people in her village, too young to understand that she was an outsider.   
  
Anyane looked at Kasumi, she looked small, and although the women she would grow into was caste over her like a shadow, it hadn't materialized yet. The traits that would eventually be called 'beautiful' were called 'cute'. Her hair was in a poney tail, not very long at all. She too wore a comone, her's was blue, and Anyane's was red.  
  
This immediately brought laughs from her as she started frantically chasing her sister. Her parents loving smiled at each other, looking on this little display. Then Kasumi ran up to Hayate, to hid. Of corse Anyane fallowed. They all fell over, the girls laughing hysterically.  
  
" No more of your stupidness" This was Hayate. He was far to dignified and old to 'play' with them. He had been walking slightly ahead, thinking. He was always far too serous, but he walked ahead mostly for attention, he liked the way people called him all those good things, even though he wasn't sure what they meant. " You guys are so juvenile"  
  
" You don't even know what that means" said Kasumi, knowingly.  
  
" Do to" He said, " It means, something you wouldn't understand, your too little."  
  
She stuck out her tongue, and Anyane fallowed suite. Then they ran off, still playing in the happy innocence of youth, free from the cold cruel world. The true horror of life had not yet set in, and do to their purity, they were free to play together...  
  
Now this happy scene left, for a far more morbid one. One that would change everything, one moment in time that would forever separate her and her sister. One moment that would make her fall in love with her brother. One moment that she would use to define reality. One moment that would eventually be forgotten in her mind, but never by her heart.  
  
She looked around again, unbelieving. The room was dark and the day was clouded. What struck her as odd was the fact that everyone was crying. They all seemed so sad. There was a man at the front of the room, speaking an ancient dialog that she didn't understand, and she just stood there, wondering.  
  
Her sister poked at her, and she sinkered, slightly. This, of corse, brought reprimanding stares from the people who were dressed in dark cloths. She heard them say something like, 'even in there death, she is a burden to them', but she was to young to understand, and so she hung her head, not because of what happened, but because she was yelled at.  
  
The strange event went on for another hour, the ones it was meant to comfort, completely missing the point. Not understanding that their parents weren't coming back from their jouny. After the 'party' started. This was the part the sisters had been looking forward to. They thought it would be like another festival, fun.  
  
It wasn't fun, not at all. After the old man was finished, some youkey big people food was brought in. Her sister and her set off together, but were immediately separated, as people flocked to Kasumi and told her how brave she was, and other such things. Anyane wondered why:  
  
why didn't people tell me things like that... wait, this must be Kasumi birthday. That was what was going on. People always cry on her birthdays, and tell her nice things. I wonder why I never get told nice things on my birthday, I wonder why we go to the temple for her's, but we stay home for mine? Oh well, I must get her a gift, because these grown ups are doing this whole party thing wrong. They are making it boring, poor Kasumi! I will save her birthday.  
  
She decided that she would go off and get a present. No one noticed she was gone, or if they did, no one cared. She wondered through the empty village, looking for something. Then she saw flowers growing in a field. "I will pick her flowers" She said to no one in particular.  
  
She came back a little later, and forced her way to her sister, armed with the bestest birthday gift she had ever given. She got close when a furreous voice said " How dare you bring flowers to such a mournful ceremony, do you not even respect your parents, even when they have past?!!!"  
  
At that a furry of voice said mean things to her. Things she didn't understand, and new words like 'mistake' and 'bitch' came at her. She broke down and wept, 'Why, why do I get yelled at? Why doesn't anyone say anything to Kasumi? She is the one who poked me.' She thought desperately. She looked over at Kasumi, who was frozen with fear, and, for the first time, was angry at her. Anyane always watched out for, and when the big people were mad, she would do something to make them less mad. But Kasumi just stood there, and stared. It was at this moment that the hatred for her sister was born, an anger that would later be fanned by the winds of corruption and suffering into a raging fire of loathing. She ran away, and no one fallowed her, or so she thought.  
  
She sat down, by herself, in sight of the people, but not near enough for them to yell anymore. She put her head on her knees, like she always did when she was sad and wept. She wanted her mom to sooth her.  
  
" Are you alright?" It was Hayate's voice. He looked genuinely concerned, and, for once, didn't seem to mind being forced to be with her.  
  
" Why did they yell at me, Hayate? What did I do that was bad?" She said, tears rolling shamelessly down her now red cheeks.   
  
" I.. Don't know. I wish mom and dad were her, they would tell us, but whenever I ask anyone, they either cry and hug me, or say something about moving on. I don't know what is going on. Grown ups are weird."  
  
" Why do the people love Kasumi bestest? Is it cause of her hair? I just want them to be nice to me, not even to love me."  
  
" Well, just between us, I love you bestest, your much more, mature then Kasumi. And those other people are just bug brains." He said this, mainly to get her to stop crying. But he said it with love. This was the birth of hope. It might have been twisted, and this particular moment was forgotten, but t his was her hope. Then he heard his name, and started back. He stopped, and offered her his hand, ready to bare her burden with her.  
  
" I want to be alone, just for a little" She siad naively, God have mercy on those who get what they want.  
  
Life just got worse after that. In time, the only one who fed her was Hayate, who would save some of his food and hide it for her. No one would even look at her. She was not aloud near the temple, or in anyone's house. They all didn't want her dishonor on them. They thought that she would leave, eventually, and she did. She left to discover what she had done some bad that they hated her, that her parents left her. She gave Hayate a note, and gave him one for Kasumi, and set out into the bleak and hopeless world, that eats dreams, alone...  
Her eyes fluttered and opened slowly, into the harsh light. She looked around, this room was strange to her. She tried to think, but couldn't, her head was still floating. She looked around, she was in an empty game hall. She blinked and it slowly came into focus, slot machines, video games, a bar, and a huge window facing the sun. It was tinted of corse.  
  
Then she looked down and saw him. He was passed out on the edge of the pool table. His glasses seemed to be carelessly caste aside, and it looked as though he hadn't meant to sleep. Next to him, hanging next to him was an IV needle. She looked at her own arm and saw the other end was in her. His breath was rythmatic. Then what had happened hit her like a freight train.  
  
'What did I try to do' she thought, disbelieving. And then there he was. 'He stayed her all night, he did all this for me?! Why, why did he help me?' She looked at him at awe, and then noticed what she was wearing. Draped over her was the Have a nice day shirt, he had nothing covering his chest. 'He doesn't even know me, why?'  
  
She reached out, hesitated, then poked him. He moved, but was still asleep. She poked him harder. This time he shot up with such force that the chair he sat in flew back and he landed with a thud on his back.  
  
" Son of a.. Mother.. Honestly" He said, sleepily. She couldn't help but laugh. Instead of yelling, he laughed too.  
  
" Please, never do that again," Vic said. He got up and walked to the frig. He got a glass of Oj and walked over to her. He picked up his chair, and sat down. " Drink this, it will make you feel better."  
  
" Why?"  
  
" "your blood sugar is low, OJ is a great source of sugar. You lost a lot of blood, for awail I wasn't sure you'd make it."  
  
" I guess this is the part where you tell me what a bad choice that was, about how stupid I am for trying it." She said, without any malice, she knew she dissevered this lecture  
  
" Now what kind of a human being would I be to do that? Your hurt enough, why should I add to your pain, I have done enough already. I am not god, I have no right to judge or condemn you. What you did is between you and Him, I... If I was going to say anything, it would be welcome to the club." At that he showed her his wrists, they both had deep scares, and a lot of them.  
  
" Why.."  
  
" I wanted the pain to stop, I wanted to to leave this stupid world, full of all this bull."  
  
" Yea, I know what you mean."  
  
" You know, I didn't poison that juice." He said, kindly. She drank it. " You shouldn't move, you'll still weak. I... am sorry." He glanced down. Then he reached into his pocket and produced a gun. He flipped it, so that the handle was facing her. Then he used his other hand to put her's on the trigger. He then got on his knees, and put the gun ageist his temple. " This is all I have to offer, I am truly sorry for what I did, for the pain I have caused you. I didn't want to hurt anyone. If there is the least amount of doubt, or hatred in you, pull the trigger. It is all I have left to give you." At that he shut his eyes.  
  
She stared at him. 'This is what it comes down to.' She looked at him and, for the first time, realized that they were the same, they were both running from demons. " No" was all she said, and she broke into tears.  
  
He spoke to her, told her it was alright. He took back the gun. " If you change your mind, let me know," he said this with a smile, and she laughed, through her tears.  
  
" Look I got some shit to do, gotta do some stuff I have been avoiding. Go right to bed, alright?" He said.  
  
She nodded, " Why do we do these things?"   
  
" Because we are driven to, take care, my friend" At that he turned and left. She stared after him, wondering... 


	12. 12

Ch. 11  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Fallen  
  
It was written by the poet Milton that satin, the incarnation of evil and hatred, was once the most beautiful angle. Indeed it is accepted dogma that fallen angles are forced to be demons. Hell is always described as burring, not due to fire, but due to a desire to be with god, with true love. Perhaps the worst fate in the universe is to know you could die tomorrow without a soul caring, know that you are doomed to obscurity. A meaningless nightmare on the shores of hell, all that awaits you...  
  
Vic had long ago accept this fate. He was never 'normal'. He had always alienated himself, by choice. This was because if you let no one in, no one could hurt you. If you always kept your gourd up, nothing could get to you. But this also meant a lonely life, a life devoid of things that people say make life worth living, a live with no compassion, companionship, and without a soul caring who he was, or if he died.  
  
So he sat in a place he had sworn long ago he would never go back to. He was doing an action he said he would never do. He knelt in a church and prayed. He had stopped praying long ago, not out of hatred for god, but hatred for himself. He viewed himself as a lost cause, a hopelessly lost soul, and pray was thus a waste of breath. He had viewed his whole life in terms of comparing himself to what he should be, and every time fell far short of his mark. He had fought the good fight, and had fought it alone, but never allowed himself to enjoy the rewards. And now the true coldness of his life set in, the perfect steralness of a labritory.  
  
But now, the rules had changed. He watched as fate made him bare witness to the same pain and hurt, caste upon another, and he prayed for her soul, not his own:  
  
It doesn't matter anymore, if I live or die. But dear God, king of the universe, I beg you on my knees, with whatever part of my soul is left, don't make another live my life. In 19 years I have asked for nothing, and if you could just save her, I will gladly take my place in hell. Please, don't make me watch this happen, don't make me go through this again. don't...  
  
He heard the door open and a rush of air blow through the sacred temple. He didn't bother to look back, thinking it was just some elderly lady, who had death on her doorstep and was trying to make up for years of callus apathy twords humanity, with prays and donation. The church was small, very humble, and was very poor. Yet it had a holiness about it, it had a truth which was lost in the grand architecture of larger, more rich churches. It was very simply, 2 rows of pews, stain glass portraying Christ doing this and that on either side, the holy alter, with the podium in front. The ruff had a few holes, and birds nested snugly in the rafters of the church.   
  
" Mike..." One word, one simple word, seemed to redefined the universe. He turned and there she was, there was Ayane. She still looked a bit weak, but was alright, for the most part. Her eyes darted around quickly, looking at the various things, and Vic realized that she had probably never been in a church.  
  
" You shouldn't be up, it isn't healthy." His voice seemed to echo that of a mother, tell her child to stay in bed sternly, but with unyeildeeding compassion. He still hadn't looked up, this was mainly because he wept, and was ashamed of it.  
  
" Yes but.." She spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb the slumbering christchan deity and invoke it's wrath. " But you have been gone for almost 7 hours, I was getting a little worried."  
  
" Really, why?" He asked it genuinely, wanting to know.  
  
" I... Don't know, I just was" Her glance fell on the cross. " What a way to die"  
  
" Really."  
  
" I don't understand that, if he was a god, then why did he allow himself to die like that"  
  
" Because he knew that it was the only way to prove his love to us, the only way to show he really cared."  
  
" Why, why care about people? All they do is hurt you in the end. They leave you worse then when they came, and they are so.. Bad. All they bring is pain."  
  
" Your wrong, Ayane" He said this cautiously, checking every word. He was careful about the name too, for he had read it off her passport. " I told you I won't judge you, and I stick to that, but, I will worn you. The path you have choosing, leads no where. I can tell you this because the path you are on is the same path I am on, I am ahead, though. You said you can't sleep, continue on this path and you won't breath either. You think nights are bad, just wait for the day, the days of restlessness. The days that you know if you stop, even for a second, you will hear their screams, watch them die every time you blink. I have spent 19 years running, hiding, and it got to the point where I was working, or knocked out on sleep pills, nothing else but that, because if I slowed down, my demons would catch up."  
  
" But your safe.."  
  
"Safe, from what, joy, pleaser, any happiness. Yes, I am safe, but at what price? Is life worth living, if you live it alone?"  
  
" I don't want to be hurt again, I.. Won't.." She said this, on the verge of tears, but very comandingly.  
  
" Let me ask you this, if you knew what you know now, would you have still loved your step father?"  
  
" Yes..."  
  
" Why, in the end he caused you pain, he left you, why would you still care? Could it be that even the strongest soul, needs someone to help bear her burden?" His glance fell upon the cross, and he waited for her reply. He had put emphisi on her, so now he waited.  
  
" Because what he gave me was worth the price... what are you doing here?" She said this to try and avoid the point he was making, she wasn't ready to accept it.  
  
" I am doing something I haven't done for a long time, I am praying."  
  
" Why, why now?"  
  
" Because now there is something worth praying for. I am a lost cause, I a too far gone to help, I was praying for your sake."  
  
Her eyes shot off the scenery she still looked at and focused on him. There was an alarm, and, at the same time, a gratitude. She looked like a scared rabbit, who had wondered into someone's house, and now looked desparetly for something familiar.  
  
" Me?!"  
  
" Yes, it is not to late for you. You still have a chance to escape my fate, still have a chance to be.. human. I was praying that you don't do what I have done, don't shut everyone out. If you do, a sad thing will happen, you will have endless days and sleepless nights, every moment you are conscious becoming a torrent of pain, and then, one day, you'll wake up and fell the pain, but you won't know why. You will see yourself, but not know who you are, you will be adrift in a sea of forsaken souls, to dead to be living, and to living to be dead. You will be like me." He said this not with sadness, but in a factual tone, and his voice was that of a broken soul and heave heart.  
  
" Why, why not pray for yourself as well?"  
  
" I told you I am lost, there is no hope..."  
  
" I think there is... perhaps there is hope for both of us" At that she walked up, sat down next to him, got on her knees, and began to pray... 


	13. 13

Ch12  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
Human  
  
We stand on the brink of a new age, an age where technology seems to make anything possible, and we wonder. Pandora had opened the box because of it's beauty, and her insayshable(?) curiosity, so to had Vic opened the box into a new realm. Questions that have haunted scientist philosophers and all people for years must be answered, least we destroy ourselves. The questions , what does it mean to be a human? And more importantly Who Am I?  
  
He floated, suspended in a liquid, his body become more powerful. When Vic had escaped efforts to finish project delta were redoubled, and now the fruits of Vic's labors were being scene. Donovan, the head of DOATECH stood and marveled. This creature that was about to be born was unlike any that ever had been. The teams of Biotechnologes, genetics, and cybernetes, had pulled out all the stops, and now there was this. They were all too blind to see an odveous thing, survival of the fittest, that the stronger species would survive.. This creature had thereticly unchecked power, and strength, what could control it? .But these thoughts did not occur to the research team, they were to consumed with seeing if they could, to think if they should. And these thoughts didn't occur to Donovan either, he was driven by his only hunger, the hunger for power. So in the dark and hellish lab, where experiments that should never have been done, were being preformed, floated the infantile angle of death, the fall of man.  
  
They were using the most advance everything. The best and the brightest, and the most high tech equipment., DNA from all the fighters had been synthesized and put together in a way that, up to Vic, was impossible. Other DNA was added as well, DNA from telepaths, wonder workers, and military genuses. On top of that, all the negatives, emotions, mercy, everything like that, had been screened out, and the strength were enhanced. And so a being that was never meant to be, was now becoming itself.  
  
So now, in the most ungodly place on earth, sat it. Donovan gazed at it. It sat in a small bunker, with wall to wall super computers and test tubs and other, more advanced, tools. It was in an incubation chamber, which was a clear tank that was see through. It was being saturated with all their DNA and accelerated growth technology was implemented. It had cords and wires going into and out of it's body. It had been made a man, though it was sterile. And it's name was 'exp. 12 -4 delta', which was tattooed across it's arm. It was going to be of short stature, only 5"1 ft.. This was so it could more easily maneuver.  
  
Donovan laughed to himself:  
  
Vic has know idea what he will be up against. On top of his work, several cibernet attachments have been added, his ESP has been enhanced 10 fold of what Vic thinks it will be, and Vic won't expect him for another 2 weeks, we should be done in 3 days, then he'll hunt all those bastereds down and kill them.  
  
They had been working round the clock, and were nearing the end of their experiments. It, as far as they could tell, exceeded all expectations. It's brain waves were off the chart, much faster and more strong then an average man. And the cibernctes could only add to it.  
  
" Soon" he said, pressing his hands to the glass, like a kid looking into a candy store. "Soon...."  
  
" What is that, my love?" This voice came from a hauntingly familiar voice. The voice was Kasumi's, or should have been hers. There, at the heavily guarded entrance to the secret bunker, stood a clone of her. There were about 13 of them total, 12 of them were an elite guard, protecting the bunker, and this 13 was this one. She was little more then a love slave to Donovan, programed for perfect obedience and unquestioning loyalty. Certain 'traits' were made more prevalent, yet, somehow, much of Kasumi true beauty, was lost. In any case, the who of what she was was distroyed, and all that stod before him now was a shell, an empty vessal.  
  
" Soon we will have Him, then we will have true power, the world will be mine."  
  
" As it should be, love." This soulless puppet said. She was not human, not really anyways. The things that make us human, the need to question, to search, to yearn, were all lost concepts to her, and she lived in blissful ignorance. Not knowing the pain that defines each and everyone.  
  
" I wonder, what should be done with Vic?"  
  
" How so, love?"  
  
" Well, he could still be useful, none of this would have been possible without him, it seems such a waste. On top of that I would like very much to watch him die."  
  
" Then have you creation bring him to you alive. Then we could watch him die, together."  
  
" Perhaps you are right. Let us go to bed." These words were not spoken tenderly, but with command, she was truly his.  
  
And so we leave this godless scene, where the joy and miracle of life are reduced to some test tub trick, where the true majesty and poetry of God is replaced with the hard emotionless, soulless, super computer. A place where men lose there very souls, a place that is spawning the ultiment demom, the true fall of man... 


	14. 14

Ch.13  
Love  
  
It has been said, time and time again, by countless prophets, poets, priest, and philosophers that love is all that is. That love is the only true way to happiness. What is this love? This question has torment many for ages, because if we understand it, then we can control it We can own it, and have it forever. But it does not work that way.. In the end, some call it little more then a drug, something to delude the harsh truths of life with, an addiction. But there seems to be much more to it then that, it seems to be, what we were meant to do, the only thing to quell our eternal thirst...  
Kasumi wondered where Vic had gone, she hadn't scene him all day. It had been her, who was Vic assistant, her who saw the full extent of what their code had done. But this didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was him, or, more well put, them. Perhaps the entities know as Vic and Kasumi had died that night on the beach, and in their place, was this new being. This carried a price, a longing to feel complete, a need to be with each other, always.  
  
It seems odd, they had know each other for mere days, and yet, there is something that many never find in lifetimes. Perhaps it was a desperate attempt of 2 rejects to escape from their misery. Perhaps it would be better to think that 'the heart has it's own reasons, of which reason knows nothing of*'. In any case, the feeling were as real as anything else in this world.  
  
She had not been so concerned about what he was doing, or where he was, just sad that they weren't together, weren't complete. She sat in a tree near the hotel, and stared into the blue sky. It was another splendid day in paradise, with sun falling through the trees and casting intricate shadows that moved with the eeb and flow of time. She had sat there for about an hour, and felt some comfort from nature. She quietly listen to the ocean, and smelled the breeze, and found comfort as the birds called to their mates, as she called, with her soul, to her's.  
  
She wasn't sure what to think, neither of them were. It was as if everything that was once used to define life, was now gone. It was a wonderful world, and she looked on it now, with the same awe of a small child, laying their eyes on thing for the first time. Questions of weather or not he was he one, if they were going to fast, all never crossed her mind. She was now in a completely different world then those who would ask. She thought back, to the night before:  
  
Vic had worked long and hard to ward off death, every so often a swear or cuss slipping through his lips, as a witch doctor used ancient incarnations. He had finished and looked at her drowsily. They talked, and gently held each other, in the cool breeze, he had then sent her to her room, 'it was too late for any rational person to be up' he had said. He then promised to meet her tomorrow, and assured her that Ayane would be fine, at least physically. Then, as all things must, their embrace was broken, and she was left alone, but with hope for the future left in her mind...  
  
He wasn't there in the morning and, with some inquiry, learned he had borrowed a car and had 'gone to run some errons.' Ayane had gone missing too, later in the day. She knew because she had been the one to care for Ayane. And for these few hours, they both felt like sisters again, like dead days were back. Now, though, she simply looked longingly into the sky, and wondered...  
Then she heard it, far off at first. It was the sound of her salvation, of her freedom from her torment. It was not the grand trumpeting of heaven, not a quirror of angles, but, simply, was an old broken down car eigen. Yet she knew, in this unlikely chariot, rode her love. She leaped out of the tree with the grace and finesse of a butterfly, and the exsitment of a child. She landed on the balcony, and ran for the door. There she stopped short, wanting to regain her composer, not wanting to look to needy. As she breathed, he ran out, he saw her and stopped, mid sprit...  
  
" I... ahh,....well see... I wanted to see you... er.. Ah.." He said this in a half happy tone, for seeing her, and a half embarraced one, for his running and all that.  
  
She put her finger to her lips, knowingly. She then looked at him, and the both burst out laughing, out of joy. They walked over to the rail and just stared out into space, side by side. And they both knew, that this was right. Kasumi looked at him and thought:  
  
What I wouldn't give for him to hold me, like he did on the beach, just one more time, and I'll be happy, I will be content, please god. Awwww, this is much harder then waiting...  
  
At that she sneezed. And he reached over and put his arm around her, to keep her warm, in 95* heat. Her heart leaped, both of theirs did. It was as if some kinder deity had taking pity on the them, had given them this moment, to have forever. And they slowly got closer and closer together, each become more and more content with the world, with how things were, with themselves.   
  
They stood there a long time, just listening. They didn't say anything, words could only take away from the beauty of the scene. Also they were both scared that if they spoke, they might wake up. But they slowly became sure of the others exsistance, and a conversation began.  
  
" Where did you go" Said Kasumi, gently, kindly, genuinely wanting to know.  
  
" I had some things to do, some business I had to take care of."  
  
" ohh, like?"  
  
" Just some ghoasts from my past, needed to be layed to rest, and some insurance about the future, about our future, was needed." He said this sincerely, and she loved him all the more for it.  
  
" I see..." She could feel he did not want to go into details, and was fine with it. She didn't want to ruin the moment, neither of them did.  
  
" I saw your sister, today. Did she just escape from her bed?"  
  
" Yea, kinda, I guess. Where did you see her?"  
  
" In a church."  
  
"And?"  
  
"She has far to much of me in her..."  
  
This brought her eyes up, and a flash of jealousy and rage crossed her face:  
  
What does he mean by that?! Is he saying...  
  
" Nothing like that," he said, sensing her anger, " Just she is too much like me, too alone, or perhaps, what I used to be like. She hasn't found her Kasumi... I guess..."  
  
This brought immediate blushing to her face, and she quickly looked down. The scene continued on for several more minutes, they talked of this and that. Then, the real world came back...  
  
" Well comrade Vic, as I live and breath." This came from a heavily accented Russian man, who stood on the balcony. He was old, yet, something about him seemed to reek of bad news. Everything about this man seemed to echo some darkness, not in him, but something he took with him, some burden, a curse. And as this prophet of doom gazed at them, they Kasumi knew, this was bad... 


	15. 15

Prophet  
  
Throughout history, every culture has developed a notion of a divine force. This 'fate' force, seems to be the driving force of life. It would appear to be a way the universe preserves the delict balance that exists. Also throughout the ages, there have been people who are more perceptive to this force, people called prophet. Yet this gift, as all gifts do, comes with a price. That price is to be feared and hated, mocked and ridiculed, and to die alone...  
  
Now stood before the two lovers, the messenger of cruel death. Bayman immediately recognized him. His name had long been hidden by the soviets, and only his false name, Wyrd, existed. He was a top ranking KGB official, and after the collapse of the USSR, had become a feared and ruthless mob boss. Bayman had done work for him in the past. Yet it struck him odd to see the man out like this, he was always escorted by guards, " and even more confusing, he is talking to Vic" He thought.  
  
Bayman wasn't sure what to think any more. He had lead the life of a good solder, never questioning his clients. But now, he was being hunted by one of the bigger one's of his clients. He didn't think anything of Vic, accept that he had some skill in fighting, and stealth. He currently sat inside, looking onto the Balcony. He didn't hear the words they spoke, but he had learned how to read lips, a very handy trick.   
  
They talked on this and that, meaningless things. Then, the conversation got interesting. They were speaking in Russian, but he could read lips in both russian and English. Still, the fact that they talked out of ear shot of anyone who might care, and in a foreign language, seemed to add a certain ominousness to the meeting:  
  
Vic: Did you bring the package?  
  
Wyrd: yes, and the Landry?  
  
Vic: It is in the back of the hair  
  
Wyrd: Good, then hear.  
  
The conversation stopped abruptly as Wyrd reached out and handed Vic the package. At first Bayman didn't recognize it, but then , he realized what it was. It was a choice he had been forced to make himself. In that box were the keys to everything, a man with his job, could want. Yet it also had a heave price...  
  
He looked up quickly, passing over the room, making sure he was alone. He was, everyone had gone off to do something, he had chosen to stay behind. He had learned long ago that to really on others, was folly. A folly he payed with the lives of his dear parents. A folly that had caused him to be what he is...  
  
At that, the man stepped tword from Vic, and did something that Bayman had never scene him do before. He embraced him in a clasp. This was the first real display of affection he had ever seen from this man. This man, a ruthless killer, an unreviled power, stood, embracing Vic as equals. And, for the first time in scene childhood, Bayman was scared:   
  
Oh Shit, this is bad. If he is this scared, what has Vic done? They are considering that? how bad is this situation, how deep are we all in?  
  
Wyrd: you realize, of corse, the consequence of using that thing?  
  
Vic: I know better then anyone else  
  
Wyrd: I have some information for you  
  
Vic: that has always coast me extra in the past, are you becoming a good person? What this?! Charity?!  
  
Wyrd got a small smile, the kind friends get when they tell goofy stories that make scene to no one but them, then he continued: Far from it. They don't know what they are doing, those DOATECH fools. This will be much worse then the Tangu disaster, worse then the Omega man  
They are bringing the fall of man about. Mike, The soulless thing they have brought into exsistance, it can't be stopped. You can't argue with it, reason with it, hope to stop it. It is beyond what even we thought it would be. Heed my words, Mike. If you fight, you will die.  
  
Vic: There are things worse then death...  
  
Wyrd: yes, but why throw your life away. Come with me, I have powerful friends, we could keep you safe, help you.  
  
Vic: Mabe you can protected me today, and tomorrow, but what about the rest of the people who it will surely try to kill, can you save them? It is my responsibility to end this before it starts, before another Tangu incident does occur. I have lived my life running from my fears, running from pain. And I was dead inside. I can't explain why I am going to stay and fight, call it youthful errognece, if you like, but Living in fear is not living.  
  
Wyrd: But I can help you avoid much pain..  
  
Vic: Pain is like waves on a pond, it is natural. It is when you run you suffer. Besides, I now have something I would gladly die 100 painful deaths for.  
  
Wyrd's glance fell on Kasumi. It wasn't a friendly glance. It wasn't a glare either. It was the glance a farmer gives to his fattest cow, thinking how much she is worth at the slaughter. His eyes, two dark and empty embers, of what was once a bright fire. Starred at her, cold and emotionless. That was one thing Bayman would never get used to, the man's cold, dead eyes. They were the eyes of a defeated worrier, one had fought the good fight, and still lost. One who he given everything he had, and, in the end, that wasn't nearly enough. The shadow of a man, an echo of what he once was...  
  
Wyrd: Take care, old friend.  
  
At that the man limped slowly away. Bayman watched as Kasumi tried to get Vic to talk about what had been said. He listen to the approach of some of the others, from wherever it is they were. And listened to the glass door open.  
  
" So you are really going to use XJ-321? That will kill you..."  
  
At that, all that remained of the hope drained from the room, as Vic starred, in disbelief at Bayman. And Bayman, cold and emotionless, stared right back at him... 


	16. 16

Ch. 15  
  
Born To Kill  
  
Forces of pure destruction have always contained some sickening, hauntingly beautiful quality. It is as if the purity that these forces contain are transcendent of the normals questions of our reality. They destroy not out of cruelty or malice, nor do they destroy out of comparison or hope. They do it because it is their nature to do it. On every battle felid, in every storm, in ever virus, they is a beauty that is all to illusive...  
  
This sickening purity has it's consequences. For what is more simple or cruel then forces of nature?  
  
Born to kill, a horrific phrase, painting on the helmets of men sent to die for a Nobel cause, long scene forgotten. What DOATec had given birth to, needed no cause, it needed no cause. It needed no purpose, it was as soulless and as pure as a raging hurican...  
  
1:23 A.M. ( St. Raymond island, 30 floors underground)  
  
" Look at it's brain waves, they keep increasing! These readings hardly seem possible."  
  
" I know, it shouldn't be awakening, it has 2 days left, yet it's, coming alive"  
  
" That's not possible, it can't will itself into life! We have to activate it."  
  
" Regardless, it seems to be doing just that, causing itself to exist. In effect, causing it's own birth."  
  
" Yes, but we have installed none of the safe guards we meant to, if it is freed now, we won't have control."  
  
" Perhaps life, can't be controlled..... Sound the alream, commence lock down. Wake Dovana. Get all non- essenchal personal out of here. And hope we can stop it..."  
  
2:23 AM  
  
" Damn it, it keeps gaining strength" This was Donovan voice, the room that was empty, accept for the 2 Dr. on late shift, was now a bustle of activity. In the back round was heard communications on several frequence. There was no longer the pristine military order that had once prevailed, the lab had descended into near chaos. Everyone on the research team was trying to reason out what happened, it shouldn't be ready for two days. " Keep the E.C. field stable, that's all that's suppressing it's telecentict powers."  
  
" Sir, compelling four and seven are going critical, we won't be able to keep the field magnitude up for much longer."  
  
" Why the fuck not!"  
  
" Dr., we are already at 300% normal output."  
  
" No.. Oh god no... That can't be right, there no fucking way that can be right.... Not even in our wildest dreams... Recalibrate the sensors, there has to be a malfunction.. 300%, how many atm that?"  
  
" 5000 atm per cubic centimeter."  
  
" Not possible..." Davona was no longer the clam, controlling, systematic man he once was, he was now hysterical. He had spent his whole life gathering power, trying to gain more. He had realized that it had always been science, not politics, that had true power. The power to create, and, conversely, the power to destroy. He had never feared anything. Life seemed as pridicatable as 2+2=4. If it couldn't be catigorsed, tested logical and expressed through experiments, then it didn't exist. But now, for the first time, he felt fear....  
  
3:00 AM  
  
" We can't hold it back any longer... We must leave!!!"  
  
" No," screeched Donovan " I won't leave when I am so close... HA HA HA, my creation will live!!!!!!!!"  
  
" Dr. Smith, third reactor breach, atm increaseing to 8,000 per cubic cm. The reactor is losing it's stability, The E.C. field will breach soon, we have to leave NOW!!!!!!!"  
  
" Dr. Donovan stop this foolishness, we must..."  
  
At that, Donvana, insane with rage and fear, upholstered his gun. It was his eyes that were most hunting. He was no longer the stoic he once was, he was no closer to a raging beast. " No, you will remain at your post Drs. or I will kill each of you. It's not too late, yes that's right it's not... We will see the birth of a new world.. World, new.. HA HA... dead dead DEAD!!!!! Are all those in opposition to the new misaia..."  
  
" You have lost your mind!! Let us go."  
  
" No, they called Eienstein crazy... Yes, they did...You must be them, them must be died!!!" At that a shot rang out, and struck The Dr. Who had been speaking dead. " No one leaves alive..." He was speaking to one of his Kasumi clone guards. She nodded.  
  
Dovana began to walk away, and you could hear the slaughter of the others, by his cloned guards. He didn't care though. He was no longer in our world...  
  
3:15 AM (US Department Of Defense, surveillance room 431)  
  
" The space defense network just detected an explosion, rivaling a thermonuclear devise."   
" Where? Was it a nuck?"  
  
" That's the odd part, sir, there is no radioactive residue. It was on a small island in the middle of the pacific ocean, it was owned by DOATech."  
  
" Bastards, I should have known. Get Donovan on the line, Now!!"  
  
And so begins the final act. The stage is set, the ocistra engaged, now we see if our friends can dance. Perhaps the human race will go out with a bang, not a whimper... 


	17. 17

Ch.16  
  
Freedom  
  
One of the largest faults of humanity is to recognize freedom, without recognizing the repercussion. It is human folly to think that our actions are somehow beyond the laws of physics. Indeed, everything we do has a consequence. We are never truly free from the universe itself, from the effects of our acts.. So how much control should someone our actions effect have over our choice?  
  
For the past ten minutes Vic had been despretly trying to explain the vile that Wyrd had given. He had been talking as he would to a room of PhDs, and it was just going way over their heads. He was trying desperately to make sense, and Ayane was trying desperately to fallow.  
  
She had been out for a walk, and she walked in just in time to hear Baymans last statement, 'That will kill you' and had become very concerned with what were they talking about. She hated feeling ignorant, and so was listening more intently then everyone else.  
  
Vic was obviously become frustrated with himself. He could tell that he wasn't making any sense to them. So he desperately used a cheasey, terrible metaphor. " Have you ever seen a racing movie where there is.... Uhhh.... like a boast type thing.... you know, like a super full?"  
  
Ayane had never actually scene one, they had looked to stupid for her. She did fallow the concept however, and so she nodded with everyone else. She looked at everyone else and would have almost laughed. They were acting like school children, listening so intently, nodding in agreement. She almost expect Vic to say ' good morning' and have everyone else repeat the words, in unison, back.   
  
The only person who seemed to be above this 'class', the bad kid, was Bayman. He obviously had a much simpler explanation for what the vile was, but he remained stone faced and silent. He leaned ageist a post, and every one in a while, Vic would look up from his ranting, and they would lock gazes, then he'd go back to trying to make them understand. As for Bayman, well, he stood with a superior smirk on his face. He was enjoying making Vic sweat.  
  
" Well, it is like that, for your body" Vic continued, excited because he seemed to be making progress. " For millennia people have been fascinated by the prospect of bettering themselfs, though science. Nitzche, for instance, speaks of obber men, who posses certain... qualities normal people can't. In the 30s, Hitler set out to make these ideas a reality. He tried to make a perfect race. He failed, but the idea was plausibly. So, during the cold war, both the US and the USSR, tried to develop a 'super solider.' Donovan and I," He said this meekly, with a very deep scene of sorrow, " Took it to the next leave, instead of enhancing a human, we made one. Anyways, back to what the vile is, it is the ultimate achievement of 3 decades of soviet genetics. It is their super solder formula. Everything, sight hearing, muscles, even nerve transfer time and thinking, are enhanced. But..."  
  
"It causes the engine to overheat, and the car to explode. It is a suicide, 2 weeks, then death." This came from Bayman, obviously board of hearing Vic go on and on and on.   
  
" Is that true?!!!" This was Kasumi, she hadn't left Vics side during the whole 20 minute lecture, and had held onto him loosely. Now, for the first time in over and hour, they released each other. She looked up at him, with a mixture of hurt and fear and anger in her eyes. Ayane, for some strange reason, had the urge to comfort her. She wanted to help the sister she had cursed for the past 10 years. " I am so fucked up," she muttered to herself, realizing how, in one week, she had felt closer to her sister, then she had ever felt in 16 other years.  
  
" I... well... um.... yes, ye it is, though most people die in 1 week." He said, weakly. Kasumi stared at him in disbelief. Then, without a word, she slapped his face, and walked away. That slap looked like it hurt him worse then all of what he had gone through, it was as if all his suffering and pain, could be put into one blow. " It... I.... It" He tried desperately to say something," It was for you, that I was going to do this..."  
  
Kasumi stopped, and every muscle in her body tensed up. She turned, and a stare that would have stopped an entire army, was in her eyes. It was unlike any emotion she had ever felt before, and unlike any she would ever feel again. " You... you... you... you bastered." That was all she got out, before she turned and ran away.  
  
" Wait, it's not like..." Vic said, to the air where Kasumi used to be.  
  
He then, calmly, walked away. He was clearly heartbroken, and Ayane could have sworn that there where tears in his eyes. but he left.   
  
Once he was gone, the room burst into conversation. The women applauded Kasumi for what she had done, they said Vic was out of line. The men, on the other hand, seemed to feel that Vic had done nothing wrong, after all, he hadn't taking it, and even if he did, what was wrong with that.  
  
Ayane, just listened, and thought about how stupid they all sounded. Then she looked down at her wrists, and remembered what he had done for her. She remembered she owed him her life. She remembered most of all the promise she had made to herself, the first night. It appeared to her that fate had given her a chance to repay her debt. It was more then that though, she no longer wished to see him hurt. Even if that meant helping out her bitch of a sister, it was a price worth paying. She walked out, silently, to find Vic.  
  
She found him sitting on the beach, starring into the ocean. He had obviously been crying, but he tried to conceal that fact as she approached. She sat down next to him, and knew exactly what he was going through. That day, that horrid day that had given her scares on her wrist, and one even deeper, in her soul, the day Haytat had had...  
  
" stay away from me, Ayane!!!" Haytay had screamed, and the storm seemed to roar in agreement.   
  
" Why are you so anger? I didn't do anything, I just wanted to help you!!" She said back, with disbelief and saddens, hot tears now running down her check. She had found him about a minute ago, and all he did was curse her.  
  
" You'll never be anything more then a bastard child. A reminder of their foolishness and lust!!! Nothing good can ever come from you !! You stupid bitch, did you honestly think I cared about you?! I was too young a stupid to understand that all you can bring is shame!!! If I could take back what I did, feeding you and all that shit, I would, then you wouldn't be there to cause dishonor!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Ayane snapped back to reality. She didn't want to think of that any more, not ever again. She noticed she, too, was crying, but didn't care. 'He has tried so hard to help everyone, god let me say the right things to help him, They are, Vic and... and ... Kasumi are so happy, dear god, if you have a shred of mercy, don't take that away... please.'   
  
It wasn't the most eloquent prayer, nor was it said by a very faithful women, but she had said it from her heart, and after the, words stared coming to her. " Hi..."  
  
" Hi" He said, he had burred his head in his knees, out of shame, " What did I do wrong, why is she so mad"  
  
" Why?! Well..." She caught herself, she was about to make a pointless joke, at his expense. "Look, she genuinely loves you, and you her. She felt hurt that you would consider such a thing as killing yourself. It makes her feel... unloved."  
  
" But I was doing it for her. What I made, it will... it will .it will" He wept hysterically for a few moments before recovering, " It will KILL HER" He whispered, almost as if he said it any louder, it would happen. " I wanted to save her."  
  
" Yes, but maby she didn't want that, maby she thinks a world without you isn't worth living in." She said this and her voice, her words, reminded her of something Ganard would say.  
  
" It's my job, I have to stop it, I..."  
  
" We, not I. I won't let you do it alone, neither will she..."  
  
" I have to face it alone, she might get hurt, you might get hurt. I must bear my own cross." Vic said.  
  
" But your not alone" Ayane protested.  
  
" I... can't ask you to take such a risk."  
  
" A very wise man once told me that ' life isn't worth living without taking risks.'"  
  
" And how much blood is on that wise mans hands? How many have suffered because of me, how many have died? And how many more are to come? That wise man made your father into a monster, drove you to suicide..."   
  
" Not true" said Anyane " That wise man helped me see that there is more to life then guilt and hatred, and more then happiness. I killed myself because I had no hope left. When you brought me back, I had gotten some, somewhere. No one can make it on their own, I am starting to see that now.. And the price I payed was worth it."  
  
"Ayane, I..." Vic started  
  
" Shhhh. Go find her, what she did hurt her as much as you. You need her, she needs you. Go, find her, before it really is too late. Even if she won't listen, tell her why you did what you did. Don't give up on her, cause if you have no hope, you have nothing...."   
  
Vic embraced her, and they felt the same love that 2 best friends feel for each other. Then he got up and went to find the part of himself he had lost. And she knelt on the beach, and prayed... 


	18. 18

Ch17  
  
Appreciation  
  
It has been said that we never truly appreciate what we have, until we loose it. This is a sad fact on humanity, that certain things, even the most precious , go unappreciated, until we no longer have them. We become adjusted to certain ideas, and we stop thinking about how precious they are. Even love, can be reduced to this sad state...  
  
Vic had fallowed Ayane's advice, and, had gone to find his love. He no longer cared about his fate, no longer cared about the fate of the whole world, he only cared about finding her. If the destruction of the world would have brought them back together, Vic would have gladly paid that price.  
  
He had been searching the island for almost three hours, and, had doubled back to retrace his footsteps. It was odd, he could find no trance, in the woods, or village, of her movements. Vic had been taught how to track things long ago, and yet this pray, seemed untraceable. He was beginning to loose faith in Kasumi's very existence, a beautiful dream but, like all dreams, you must wake up to reality. He was genuinely begining to think this, and the saddens of such thoughts, no matter how absurd they may seem, carried was unbearable.  
  
He ended up back at the hotel. He felt lost and hopeless. Then, perhaps because fate is merciful, or perhaps because fate has a sick sense of humor, he heard something. It was soft, and had he not been as focused as he was he would have missed it. It was the soft sound, carried on the wind, of someone crying.  
  
Then it all made sense, all the peaces feel into position. He couldn't find her out there, because she was in the hotel:  
  
I am such an idiot!!! Don't check the most odveous place, great job stupid!!!  
  
He ran for the door and flew up the 10 flights of stairs. The only thing going faster then him was his mind, as he ran, thoughts flew in and out of his head at a speed he had never known before. It was as if all of the secrets of the universe, of the meaning of existence, lay before him, and he need only to reach out and grab them. He reached the door.  
  
The door, her door. He couldn't help but think of the last time he had faced a door like this. Couldn't help but think of the horror that laid inside. He shook his head, viciously and his soul yelled 'shut up'. He stood there for at least five minutes, reaching out, grasping the knob, and then letting go. It was as if there was a fire in the room, a fire he didn't want to face.  
  
To anyone observing this scene, it seemed utterly absurd. His love waited on the other side, not fire. And he needed only to turn the handle and open into her. Yet he was paralyzed with fear. A fear that all people feel, when they are faced with a choice of this kind. He kept thinking:  
when if she hates me, when if she's dead? What have I done? I.. I just wanted to help, nothing more.. Just help.  
  
He was nearing hysterics now, and could feel the heat of tears burning in his eyes. No fate can be worse then this, and, with that final thought, he opened the door. The room was in disarray, close were strewn about, suit cases left open, empty coke cans covered the floor. And there she was.  
  
She sat on her unmade bed, weeping. Her back was turned to the door and she was not looking at anything. She had her head on her knees and was in a ball. The sound she produced was hauntingly beautiful, and horrifically sad. It was the sound of unbridled pain. A pain not of the body, but the soul. If she noticed Mike enter, she hadn't made any move..  
  
Mike stood there, frozen. He was despritly searching for words, thinking about what he had thought he would say, yet none would come. When he tried to speak, his voice was caught in the back of his mouth. Finally, and painfully, a conversation was started.  
  
" Kasumi, I..."  
  
" Just go away." She said this, in the same tone she had wept in, and Vic wanted nothing more then to hold her again, to make it all right, to keep her from this pain.  
  
" Please here me out..."  
  
" Why?! Why should I listen?!! You, you, why did you even think that??!!!! Do I mean nothing to you??!!!" She said this with anger, but it seemed to be false, somehow. Like it hurt her as much to say it, as it hurt Vic to hear it.  
  
" I was going to do it for you, I.. I couldn't stand the idea of losing you. I was going to save you."  
  
" Why!!!? So I could live alone, you can stand losing, well, it's a two way street!!! I... I... I ... I can't stand the idea of losing you." This last part was said very laboriously.   
  
" It's my responsibility, I made it!! God it's all my fault, all mine!!! I just want to make things better" He said this with tears dripping down his face  
  
" Your not alone, don't you get it yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You.. Have me, and your problems are my problems."   
  
" I, could never ask you..." Vic started  
  
" No, it doesn't work that way, We don't ask. We simply are. You, me, don't you see, those don't fit any more, there is just!!.. Just!!... us." she said that last part like a whisper. It showed the same reverence that some people show during religious ceremonies. As if the very word was scared.  
Vic stood there a long time. Tears were now streaming down both their faces, and neither cared anymore. The concept of sham had been abandoned by them both at the start of this conversation. Vic had never stopped to think, what is death would do to her. He hadn't considered it. He felt like the most selfish human being ever. He finally got out... " I, am sorry, I never thought about me, I... I just wanted to save you.... I didn't think that it would affect you so, deeply...."  
  
" Just leave" She said, quietly, she still hadn't looked up yet.  
  
He couldn't take it any more, he walked over and in front of her. He dropped to one knee, so he could see her face. She immediately tried to pull away, but he caught her, and just stared up at her. Finally he said, " please don't do this. It...It hurts too much... I can't stand you looking this way.. I am sorry about what I did, I am such a fucking moran, but I need to say this, and if after that you want me to leave, I'll never bother you again. I.. I love you, with everything that is me I love you. I never meant to hurt you, and if given my life could make you happy, I'd do it, gladly. But, you showed me there is more to this life the meaningless routine, and I...I can't live with out that... without you. Everything you do, gives it all meaning, for the first time I feel happy, I feel like I can see God, and everything is fine. You are all that matters to me, and I would never ever hurt you unperpose."  
  
" Vic..." She threw her arms around him and the wept together. They just held each other for a long time, and, eventually, what had happened spiritually, happened physically as well... 


	19. 19

Ch. 19  
  
The past  
  
The past, it is something only man has ever had. Strictly speaking, it is an old model of reality, that no longer works. Yet why do people cline to it so? Is the past not dead, and buried. There are those few people who realize that all there is, is now, and that time is merely a measurement between these 'now' points. For most, though, the past is an undead demon, come back to hound us, with either regret or remorse. A part of ourselves we fear to let go of, for if we did, we might just cease to be  
  
" We come bearing news, Ma'am" Kasumi looked around, she was at her old home, or so it appeared. She could see things, but they were hazy, almost as if they were too close to forget, yet too distant to rember. The man who stood before her, had no face, it was hidden by the shinobi mask. But she couldn't even make out his eyes.   
  
Then, slowly, the events that had transpired came back to her. Her step father had died, about two months ago, and her brother was now in charge. She looked at her hut and felt a sense of pride. She lived alone, and felt like she had reached a certain level of maturity. She was a rebellious youth. She thought she could handle anything the world could throw. She thought wrong.  
  
" Your brother, has gone missing, we have been looking for him for about 2 days. There isn't a trace."  
  
There are moments in life when things come into a painful clarity. She realized exactly what was happening. She couldn't stop it though. It was as if she was outside, she could see herself, and this man, but seemed to hoover above them.  
  
" Why wasn't I told of this?!" She asked with anger.   
  
" We thought it best, to let you not worry" Said the gaurd, stoicly.  
  
"Damn it, I am 14 years old, I am a woman now, stop treating me like some child...."  
  
.... Flash, darkness, new place. "Kasumi, don't go over there!!!!!!!!"  
  
This was her step mother, she was about 7 years old. She stood near the edge of a cliff. " Why not?"  
  
" It's dangerous honey, you might get hurt, we can't have the daughter of the chief hurt, can we..."  
  
She stopped listening, in actuality, she had heard this speech a thousand times. You must be careful, blah blah blah. ' How am I supposed to be this great leader, fighter, man, when will they never let me alone for 2 seconds?? Hiatie goes off by his self, why can't I??'  
  
After Ayane had left, the attention she had enjoyed had become more of a curse. Her, Hyate, and Ayane, were the last decedents of the legendary Misoto, the greatest worrier of all. Ayane' s blood was viewed as impure, because of her mother's little fling with that mad man, Randu. But the others viewed it as fundamentally important to keep the 'pure' blooded one's safe. Kasumi was under almost 24 hour a day care. No one let her do anything she wanted. She was constantly bounced from ceremony to ceremony, never really able to do the things that make childhood fun, like running in the rain. She was treated more like a object, then a child.   
  
....Flash, darkness, new place  
  
Running. She was running. From whom or what, she couldn't be sure, but she was running. She knew, if whatever chased her, caught her, she would have a fate more then death.  
  
" It is your destiny to be the greatest shinobi, ever, you will produce many strong hairs, and preserve our way of life."  
  
" NO!!!!!!!! There has to be more to life then that!! Is all I am, an instrument?!! Meant to procreate our race!! I am a person damn it, not a machine."  
  
" What you want is irrelevant. Only our race matters. What you care for, what, need, desire, is vanity. You are only who your ancestors were. You are only worth something if you can procreate our society. Anything else, is waste of time."  
  
" No!!!!!!!" she screamed " I am A person, a living breathing thing!!!!!!!!"  
  
" Your breath will one day cease, and leave your body cold. You are worthless without the children you will bare, and through them, you will live forever."  
  
" If that's my fate, I do want IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed, and started to run faster. She slowly recognized the other voice, as her own.  
  
" You have no choice, without your family, your people, who are you?"  
  
At that she tripped. She seemed to fall forever. Fal through memories of endless days and lonely nights. Fall through hope and fear. Fall through the one question that she ran from. Who was she?...  
  
Her eyes eased open. She would have woken up quickly, but she had to sleep in trees, usually. So she had learned not to make any sudden movements. The room came into focus, but her brain was still hazy. She was scared.   
  
Then something happened. An arm worked it's way around her shoulder. And, for the first time, she felt all her fear melt away. The fog that was in her brain was gone, and she realized exactly where she was. She felt it draw her closer, and it was the best feeling in the world.   
  
She glanced over, and saw Vic. He was still asleep, and was snoring, very softly. Kasumi thought that this was the cutest sound she had ever heard. She took his arm, gently, in hers. IT felt so good, to be wanted. She leaned her head back, closer to his shoulder. But some of her hair got in his noise, and he awoke, with a powerful sneeze.   
  
He sat up, rubbed his eyes, got up, got some water, drank it, and lied back down. He was still semi asleep.   
  
Kasumi couldn't herself and said, " Good night Mike."  
  
"Good nig–ght" He got comfortable, and was almost asleep, when he sat up with such a start that he feel out of bed. This caused Kasumi to laugh, uncontrollably.  
  
" You and I..... I thought that I dreamed.... Did, ahh, did something happen."  
  
She just looked at him, still laughing at him.  
  
" What, I don't get..."  
  
" I can't believe you would have forgotten." She made a fake angry face, and then laughed some more. " After all that,"  
  
" Well, I wasn't sure if I dreamed it, it seemed to good to be true."  
  
" Yep, this is a dream. You going to wake up, stupid" More laughing.  
  
" Shut up, leave me alone, or else!!" He said jokingly.  
  
He got back into bed, and they layed awake, but silently for some time. It was a wonderful feeling, to simply be, not to have to do. The room was still a mess, but the dark canceled that. Yet, it felt as if this singular room was all that was left to the world. Also that all the rendering parts of humanity had been saved, in this room. And all this was all right.  
  
Finally Kasumi could no longer control herself. For some reason, she thought he might have an answer to the question. She could stand exile and persecution, constant war, if she only had her answer.  
  
" Who am I, Mike?"  
  
" Huh?"  
  
Who am I"  
  
" That's... Ah... that's a very complex question to ask. There.. It has been my experience that there are many 'you.'"  
  
" What does that mean?" She asked, not sure what to make of that reply  
  
" Well, you, to me, are a living incarnation of a goddess."  
  
" Seriously" She said  
  
" I am being serious, you gave me back a sense of hope, I feared I had lost. You give my life a certain value. What else could you be?" After a minute of long silence. " To yourself, that is a deep philosophical question. It involves how you view yourself.... Am I boring you, I have the tendency to go on and on sorry."  
  
" No, well, a little."  
  
" Alright then, the abridged version." He said, with a smirk on his face. " You are who you choose to be, at any given time. You completely control who you are."  
  
" But..."  
  
" I am really tired. we'll talk more in the morning. Night."  
  
" Good night."  
  
Eventually they both went back to sleep. And Kasumi had a dream that truly scared her. It was about a demon, that came to take Vic... 


	20. 20

Ch.19   
  
Death and futility  
  
I the end, does it even matter? This question has haunted great hearts and minds for year. So what if I save him, he'll die anyways, why should I care? Yet somewhere in the intricate web of wants and needs, of sanity and foolishness, of ghoast worship and hope, yes, somewhere in man lies his need to care. If for only that brief second we have love, is that not worth everything. Yet, all human love, will end in pain...  
  
Vic still couldn't believe it. It was like a dream, a wonderful, peaceful dream, he hoped never to wake up from. He and Kasumi had spent the whole morning doing absolutely nothing, and it had been wonderful. It was decided that, once this whole thing blew over, they would get a big house out in the middle of nowhere, like Iowa. They would have 2 kids, and a huge dog that barked at everything. They would leave their misery behind, and just be. It might have simply been fantasy, but in it was the fantasy that give people hope. It is the dream that drives them, not the truth.  
  
" But you must get new close..." His angle said, disturbing him from his musing.  
  
" Why? I like the way I dress..." Vic said, half playfully. If a change in attire was necessary, well that was a price worth paying for happiness. And they both felt happy. They both felt completer and whole. In one night they had learned all the mysteries of the universe. They had meet god, and themselfs and love. And they were now little more then children, happy to be alive. They still hadn't lost the dreams...  
  
" You look like a..a deranged clown" At this she burst out laughing, and Vic fake tackled her.  
  
" Well, don't forget, you picked this clown..." Vic said  
  
" No, you made me" more laughter....  
  
That is the fate of being happy. Neither of them noticed the darkening sky. Nor did they feel the destructive power that seemed to envelop the island. They missed all the warning signs, and never realized that it was here.  
  
They left the hotel, very much in love, and very inebriated on that simple fact. To anyone looking, it was almost disgusting, the cooing and the holding, etc etc etc... But to them, the slightest sound, the gentlest touch, was more then any mere drug could be. Then, perhaps because fate has a horrible sense of humor, perhaps because they hadn't suffered enough, perhaps because shit happens, the battle began.  
  
They were both walking, arm in arm, back from the mall, a new bag of close for Vic, when it started raining. The storm rose up, out of no where, and the very earth seemed to be ripped apart at the seems. The wind howled with the voice of the dead. The voice of warning, trying disparately to stop them from coming home, throwing everything it could. The earth itself seemed to be trying top wash away the evil that was so near. Trying to save them. It was worse then it had been the night Vic and his love's brother, had fought, much worse.  
  
Any sane person would have heard the cry on the wind. They would have sought shelter. They would pray till the storm was done. But humans aren't sane. Vic and Kasumi only laughed at the storm, and admired it's beauty. The walked towards the hotel on a slow, but determined pace. The same pace a revolutionary walks with, when facing death by the state...  
  
It was then the creature struck, near the beach, no more then 300 yards from the hotel. It seemed to appear out of nowhere, and forced them apart. Both let out a scream from the pain, of the newly broken ribs, and the fact they were apart. It moved with such incredible speed, that if one blinked, it would have seemed to have vanished a reappeared. It stood 10 ft in front of them, Kasumi lay about 4 ft. from Vic.   
  
It was then that all hell's furry and destructive force was released. The waves of the sea roared with hatred, and the wind screamed with the voice of demons the haunt men's sleep. The very air smelled of death. And it was then, during the largest thunderclap ever, that It came into focus. For the first time, the destruction had a face to go with it's name. It stood only 4'5, and looked only 120 lbs. But there was something about It. Unlike the Omega man, and the Tengu, DOA Tec was going for fluency over power, finesse over strength. It's body was impossible tone, so that not one ounce of fat was on him. His muscles were not overbearing, but distinctly present. It's eyes were the most alarming trait about it. Unlike human eyes, which seem to show some light, hidden deep inside, this thing had only darkness. It seemed to spew this dark from every pour, but most of all his eyes. It was as if it was trying, and succeeding, to suck other peoples souls from their bodies, and to leave them an empty shell. They were two abysses that never ended, reviling a world of true nothingness. A world of unrelenting purity...  
  
Vic got to his feat, and Kasumi followed suit. They said some really heroic stuff, that was drowned out by the storm. what was left, fell on It's cold ears, and was a waste. Yet they said the words anyways, as a broken witch Dr. will repeat a chant, after he has learned it is chemistry, not magic, that makes his potion work. It was there attempt to comfort themselfs, and nothing else knew or cared what they said.  
  
Then Vic charged. He charged with all the lonely nights and broken days. He charged with his sorrow and sin. He charged with the rain blown into his eyes, and the dead screaming. He charged with his families demise in his eyes, with his mother's screams in his ears. He charged for her, the one person that mattered, the person he had to come home to the person...  
  
Sharp pain. Unbelievable pain. Not all the agonies of hell combined, could dish out this much pain. He heard the dagger, in some far off part of his brain, being drawn out of his hot flesh. He heard Kasumi's sheiks of terror. He saw everything in slow motion, and, for the first time, noticed the water as it hit the concrete.  
  
He feel. He hit the ground with such a force that the pillars of heaven itself shook, a force that seemed to bring the earth into the chaos of it's beginning. A force that ended and began all things...   
  
And it was then, the most soulless and inhuman sound of uttered was heard. It was a sound so utterly cruel, that even satin was incapable of producing it. It was the sound of all the collected injustice and unfairness, in one voice. And it would have stolen any man's sanity, to hear. It was the sound of inhuman laughter.  
  
Kasumi rushed over to Vic. The 3 second eternity it took her to reach him, was equal to many lifetimes. The wind howled even louder, and the sea roared of anger, and the dark creature approached her. She didn't notice, she didn't see It slowly, deliberately, walking towards her. She knelt by her love, who was, by now, soaked in his own blood. IT spilled out of the mouth she had loved so, and onto his nice new threads.   
  
It was about to kill her too when a force, either acting out of pure good or evil, struck,. It struck with all the force and power it could muster. It struck for not having a fair life, and watching theirs ruined. It struck because it loved them both. The creature flew from Kasumi, with such a force that not even the purple haired savior was sure she delivered it. She looked on the horrid scene, and, although she had scene and done much worse, she felt hot tears of hate. She would punish this monster, she would redeem herself. She would prove herself worthy for her fathers love, with one, simple, act. She would fulfill her promise.  
  
" You will never hurt these two again. I will stop you, no matter what it takes!!!!" She screamed with a force that overcame the storm, a force with much more then words on it, a force that she had given her very soul to....  
  
The ensuing battle began. A battle for something much more then a mere planet or god, it was a battle to prove one's existence, a fight ageist the cold and unrelenting darkness. It was a voice screaming in a crowed of clones, 'I am one!!!!!!!!!!'  
  
Kasumi didn't notice it. She didn't see her sisters fight, nor did she take note of how easily the monster was winning. It had become a cat, toying with it's pray. No, Kasumi's focus was on the one truth she had found. The one constant she never thought would stop. It was on her dying love...  
  
" Hold on Vic, Mike you have got to hold on... We'll get help, it'll be alright, it's... it's just a scratch, Or Jesus don't die.... Oh god, whatever your name is...."  
  
" I don't think even he can ( cough, chocking on his own blood) stop it now.."  
  
" Don't speak, you.. You have to save your power, you you'll live..." She was in hysterias now, tears dripped of her eyes and onto Vic's face, and somehow, he knew those tears from the rest of the rain.  
  
" You are a bad lier, don't do it ( winces in pain) My love...."  
  
His blood stained hand reaches towards her, she lets it stroke her face. Vics face is distorted from the amount of pain this simple gesture is giving him, yet he continued. There is something he is drawing from this simple motion, something worth far more then the pain.  
  
Her face winced at his pain, yet his touch gave her more comfort then any words could. She could feel his blood being smeared on her cheek, dripping down onto her shirt, and it's warmth comforted her. Her tears were flowing now, there was no longer any point in holding them back.  
  
" Vic," she whimpered, almost as if she said it any louder, the force of the words would dry him up and blow him away. " Mike, don't leave me, please!!!!" She screamed, forgetting all concepts of shame and honor, yielding to her emotions, regressing to a child like state of mind " I'll be better, I swear it, Just don't leave me, please!!!"  
  
" I don't have a choice, in the end, neither of us did... ( pain, blacks out for a few seconds)... I, will always love you. It's funny, when I want to live again, I die. But I would rather have spent the three days I did with you, then ( another black out, it is merely his will that is keeping him alive now) go a lifetime without you. It is so short and precious, our life, gone in a heart beat, That's funny, yes God, I am ready to forgive myse..." His voice feel silent, never to be heard again in this world.  
  
The pool of his blood had now soaked her outfit, but she didn't care. She held his lifeless hand to cheek, unable to believe he was gone. She held it there until it started to grow cold. Cold of the death and nothingness.   
  
She cried, for what seemed like an eternity she cried. She cried about how unfair it was. Cried out why she had to bear this. Cried out why did it have to be like this. Cried out to some cold, distant and apatetic god. Then she heard another's cry...  
  
It was the cry of her sister. It had grown tired of the game it was playing and began to fight for real. She was pined by a wall, and the monster was prepared to give the final blow.  
  
At that a flash flooded Kasumi's mind. All the memories, all the pain and pleasure, her life, her soul her vary essence found it's way to her lips, and she screamed with a voice that was the same as the angle of destruction's horn. She screamed, " FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"   
  
Her whole being experienced something few ever do, one common purpose. Her mind, body and soul were all in agreement, and from theat, a great strength bubbled up. The way a person is most dangerous is if they have nothing to lose, and something to fight for. She had both. She unleashed a series of attacks that, to this day, Ayane describes as " fucking unbelievable."  
  
The creature, for it's part, did it's best. But no enemy in the universe, short of God, could have stopped her. For the first time, right before it's destruction, the creature felt an emotion and it's black eyes lite up with this feeling. It was the feeling of fear. Then It was done, the creature head flew in one direction, and it's body in another, they both hit the ground.  
  
After that, Kasumi took up a vigil at the body, none could move her. She weathered the storm, next to what was the shell of the man she loved. Eventually the storm passed, and she waited the night with his corpse.  
  
Then, the sun came up, and, for the first time, she felt alive. In that morning, in the dawns new light, when Brama's power of creation had given the world birth anew, she truly learned the meaning of " In the beginning, God created... And it was Good..."  
  
( nothing to do with the story itself, afterthoughts... read if you like)  
  
Epilog- Brama   
  
Brama is the Hindu deity of rebirth. It is believed that, after the cold and desolate nothingness, this being begins things anew. He stands as a reminder that even cold oblivion can yield something wonderful...  
  
In the end, Vic was a failure. He failed to protect his love. He failed to stop the creature he had birthed, he failed to find truth...  
  
And yet, there was something... The world went on after the death of this, truly noble soul. Even those he loved, would recover from his loss. In the words of Marshal Mathers " The beat went on...". But he had changed things. He had helped guide to lost souls. Had helped prove that life was worth living, and love was worth having, whatever the coast.  
  
So perhaps none can change the world, it will always return to what it was. But humans, because they are made like god, can change themselves, and that is much more powerful then anything else, ever...  
  
In the end we are the oblivion, a mere flash in the pan. Yet we can be as brilliant as we want, and if we, if even for a brief second, can help someone, life isn't a waste...  
  
Game Over  
Continue?  
9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...0  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
I finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
I did it, I wrote a story!!! Yeah  
  
I would like to thank all those who have taken the time to read this. I am sorry if it was a bit long or confusing...  
  
I am also going to apologize for my spelling, which really sucks. If someone would like to edit these, in the future, I would be forever grateful....  
  
Anyhow, well, that's it then. If you are taking the time to read this, damn, you like what I write. 3 Things, first, anyone who took the time to mail me, thank you so much, this is dedicated to you. 2 anyone who has a story, or is thinking about writing it, send it to me and I will be more then happy to read it. Writing is something everyone should try. It is just a great feeling to be able to create worlds, like this.   
Well, thanks again, so much for reading this....   
gratefully, the vary appreciative author,  
Chaz 


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